Bruce Campbell is set to reprise his role as Ash in an upcoming Evil Dead series, which has received a greenlight from Starz to move forward with production. According to the program description, it does not appear much has changed for the iconic character originally portrayed by Campbell in the 1981 feature film The Evil Dead. The character of Ash appears to have remained an S-Mart employee living a fairly mediocre life; that is until the deadites show up and Ash must once again set aside his cowardly ways in order to save himself.

Sam Raimi is set to executive produce the series, as well as writing and directing the first episode. Robert Tapert will be also be joining the project as executive producer.

The Evil Dead series also marks the second time Starz will be working with Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert; the first partnership was on Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

The original announcement for an Evil Dead series had come during the last Comic-Con in July as Sam Raimi gently teased the posibility of a new show in development

It looks like two horror icons will be working together on a television adaptation of The Knife Man. The exciting part is the harshly grim nature of the subject matter fits right into what David Cronenberg (Scanners, The Fly) and Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Drag Me To Hell) are both best known for.

The Knife Man follows John Hunter, a man from humble Scottish origins,  who rose to become the most famous anatomist and surgeon of the eighteenth century. In an age when operations were crude, extremely painful and often fatal, Hunter rejected medieval traditions based on ancient Greek Orthodoxy to forge a revolution in surgery founded on pioneering scientific experiments.

Hunter’s scientific genius led him to become a central figure of the Enlightenment, which led him to be revered by fellow scientists and to become friendly with high society. Unfortunately, Hunter’s experiments required human corpses, and most were not donated. His tireless quest for human corpses immersed him deep in the sinister world of body-snatching.

It is in fashion right now to bash on remakes and reboots. That line of thinking may or may not be warranted, but you should hear none of it when talking about the upcoming Evil Dead reboot.

Of all the horror franchise that have been revived in the last decade, none more than the Evil Dead series is more malleable. The franchise has always reinvented itself with each new installment, so a new, modern reboot shouldn’t cause immediate concern.

The movie is going to begin filming in a few months and Bloody Disgusting has the scoop on the first bit of casting:

Bloody Disgusting has learned exclusively that Lily Collins (The Blind Side, Priest, Mirror Mirror) is in final negotiations to play “Mia” in FilmDistrict’s reboot aiming for release on April 12, 2013.

In this version, the story centers on five friends (David, Natalie, Eric, Olivia, and Mia) holed up at a remote cabin where they discover a Book of the Dead with a demonic force unleashed possessing each until only one is left to fight for survival.

Lily Collins is a great young actress who shined in The Blind Side and even in the otherwise horrid Priest. We don’t know which of the characters is going to be the “Ash” archetype, but rumors have bubbled up that Raimi wanted a girl to fill that role. Could that be Lily Collins’ Mia? Only time will tell.