At New York Comic Con, the folks behind the much-anticipated continuation of the “Evil Dead” saga spoke with the press about what the series means to them, what fans can expect from “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” and the dynamic they've discovered with a cast comprised of almost equal parts old friends and new arrivals. Over the course of several roundtable discussions, members of the press, including Spinoff, spoke with executive producers Sam Raimi and Craig DiGregorio, prop designer Roger Murray, and actors Lucy Lawless, Jill Marie Jones, Dana DeLorenzo, Ray Santiago and, of course, Bruce Campbell, whose sage wisdom can be found elsewhere.

“There was a lot expectation, and sometimes that did scare me when I was writing the script. Because I know the kids wanted it to be a really good ‘Evil Dead’ movie,” Raimi said of his initial reaction to returning to the franchise he cut his teeth on. “But besides that little bit of fear, we just write the characters like any other script – where he’s been, what he wants, give him some obstacles, give him some laughs, and that’s really that’s how we did the other ‘Evil Dead’ films.”

As he and Campbell have acknowledged many times throughout the years, “we never expected the success.” “We were just trying to make a drive-in picture that was good enough to play in the drive-ins,” Raimi said. “So we never had any expectations. We were surprised we could make a sequel when we had to, when no one would hire us to do anything else. I think when we made the sequel, we knew we were going to make a third one probably, because we wrote that ending in the Middle Ages. And we had some script ideas. So the third one was not a surprise. What was a surprise was the longevity that those movies have had. I never expected there would be fans of them for this long.”

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Now was the time for new “Evil Dead,” Raimi said, because “the fans kept asking for it.” “I would make Spider-Man movies, they didn’t care if I made another one or not. I make ‘Darkman’ or ‘A Simple Plan,’ they don’t care if I make another one or not. But these movies, they always want another one of these. I thought, oh, we’ll make a movie one time about listening to the fans and giving them what they want. Usually it’s a very different process. It’s finding a story, fun stuff you want to write about, this one is kind of manufactured in a different way.”

Raimi noted that his last attempt to satisfy fan demand, while successful in its own right, failed to do what he’d intended. “We did a remake [of ‘Evil Dead’] directed by Fede Alvarez a few years ago. I loved it. We were trying to satisfy the fans through that. We thought, fine, we’ll get Fede to make a new ‘Evil Dead’ movie, we’ll make it really good, and that’ll sate them,” he said. “But it didn’t. They really liked the movie, but Bruce and I kept hearing ‘more.’ ‘Now we want more with Ash, we want Ash in one of those!’ So it actually just ignited more hunger for Bruce.”

Moving to television, though, involved a change of scale. “When we decided to make it a TV show, we knew we couldn’t afford a lot of the spectacle we’d started to write into the movie script,” Raimi said. “We got rid of a lot of those bigger ideas and big visuals, and went to a very simple version that really centered around Ash. Not in a world that we have to construct week to week, but in our world. That really allowed us to concentrate on the visual effects to create the supernatural.”

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Although he was coming into a creative relationship that spanned more than 30 years, DiGregorio said that Raimi and Campbell made him feel instantly at home. “Before it started, it seemed pretty daunting. Joining a group of friends who had a sort of shorthand with each other. But from day one, they were so welcoming, to ideas, to input, to things like that,” the showrunner said. “Sometimes you don’t get that from collaborators. People just want their thing. But they’ve always been open to thoughts on how to do things. It really was welcoming. It’s like you’re a freshman in high school, the seniors don’t want to talk to you – this wasn’t the case. They were so happy to work together.”

DeLorenzo, who, along with Santiago and Jones, is also new to the team, agreed. “Starting out when I first got the role, I was so intimidated and crippled with fear. How am I going to be part of this, it’s so well loved? … But it was really wonderful, because Sam and Bruce were really gracious in welcoming us into that world, saying ‘we chose you, you’re meant to be here,’” she said. “Bruce took us under his chainsaw-wing and said, ‘Come on, newbies, follow me!’ They were very collaborative in creating our characters and let us weigh in on that, so I think that when you go forth with such passion and such respect for the fans, you’re going to make a good product.”

Santiago said the bond that forms between the characters was reflected in the actors’ real lives. “When these three come together, they become the ultimate monster-fighting unit, and become a family,” he said. “After leaving New Zealand and having shot for four and a half months, I would wake up in the morning and think, you know what? I miss Dana! I need her in my life! It’s because Pablo is such a part of me now, when I’m living life, certain things remind me of her now. It’s great to work with people that you like.”

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“It’s such a small group, you have five cast members, and just getting to watch Bruce as Ash reprise his role was such a thrill,” DeLorenzo added. “And seeing him and Lucy together, man, approach it with such love. And having Jill and Ray there on this newbie journey, you experience the same things at the same time while having the veterans of the franchise saying, ‘Come on, little ones.’”

Although Lawless wasn’t part of the “Evil Dead” crew before the new series, she worked with Raimi, Campbell and Tapert during her star turn on “Xena: Warrior Princess.” She said reuniting with them has been “divine.” “This is my family. I was actually about to sign on to this huge other deal, but I’m not on the planet long enough to miss this experience,” said Lawless, who’s been married to Tapert since 1998. “To work with Bruce and Sam on a show – when Rob gets that look in his eyes, like, ‘Oh, get on this train, it’s going to be fascinating, it’s a new kind of television.’ And it is. And they brought these incredible young performers on to flesh out the world. Because Ash has got to have a family, you’ve got to see him interact with other people so you get to know more about him. He’s always been a lone wolf in the other movies. And we’ve teamed up, so you get a better look inside these characters. I don’t want to miss working with Bruce, it’s one of the great joys of my career.”

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Lawless said that Tapert was the first to team her up with Campbell on “Xena,” sending them out on a getting-to-know-you walk. “And I was perplexed, why is he making me go out on a big, long hike with this clown?” she recalled. “Bruce was instructing me how to be a good star, and that means taking care of the morale on set, the pace of work. You get up, you be grateful, you don’t complain, because you set the tone. Bruce has molded me into his own image! I guess that’s why we’re such a great fit now. And also, when he feels sorry for himself for getting up at 4 a.m., I’m like, ‘waah.’ I’m the one person who can make fun of Bruce, who can make fun of his misery.”

Asked about strong female characters – of which she’s played many – Lawless laughed. “I would love to play the vulnerable, needy, pathetic woman. I’ve done it a couple of times. I’m actually quite good! There’s another side of me, you guys!” she said. “For the most part, I only play women who can take care of themselves. I’m glad. I’m glad it’s catching on, finally.

“I want to see them making a female action-hero movie, and making it great. And I don’t just mean Scarlett Johanssen in ‘Lucy.’ Let’s have balls-to-wall… well…”

“Ovaries to the wall,” Jones offered.

“Ovaries to the wall! They need to bring Xena back, Red Sonja, something that is really raw and human. We need a new Ripley. Every man, every woman relates to that. You’re not going to lose money. I think being stylistic is distancing us from a female action hero. It’s not about the costume, it’s about raw humanity.”

Discussing her character in “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” Lawless said, “Lucy’s dad was Professor Knowby, the original holder of the Necronomicon. So her family was destroyed, she was orphaned, blames him for the Deadite plague, now he’s released it again and she’s going to put him in the ground. So she teams up with Amanda Fisher, this cool cop in Michigan, like Thelma and Louise they go on this road trip to hunt him and his shambling trailer moving across America.”

Jones did train for the role of Amanda, noting that, being from Texas, “you might think I have guns right here, all the time. But I’d never held a real gun, I’d never shot a real gun, until this show. So I wanted to do it the safe way.”

She does come to the role with a bit of history, however. “My mom was a federal investigator for 40 years, so in a lot of ways I feel like Amanda Fisher reminds me so much of her,” Jones said. “Amanda Fisher is definitely a badass, but she’s definitely one of the good guys, she fights for good.”

Although the two women are primarily on the hunt for Ash, “Deadites come into the equation,” Lawless said. “You can’t avoid them.”

“In true ‘Evil Dead’ fashion, there is a lot of blood,” Jones added.

How much blood?

“We had beer kegs on set full of blood,” said props designer Roger Murray. “We’ve got kegs and kegs of blood, like hundreds and hundreds of liters of blood. Not quite raining blood, but a lot of blood.”

And beyond blood, there were plenty of other gruesome items designed for the show. “We had a lot of fun with beheadings, dismemberments, all that stuff,” Murray said. “There’s lots of realistic dummies that were rigged with blood pumps for intercut shots, and that’s a lot of fun.”

Asked about a favorite creation for the show, Murray teased, “It is a creature. It has an awkward birth. It’s one of the sequences we’re proudest of.”

“Ash vs. Evil Dead” premieres Saturday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Starz.