It’s a sad day for Screwheads everywhere, as Starz has announced that it’s canceling Ash vs. Evil Dead after three seasons. The last episode of the third season, airing on April 29, will be the series finale, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“Ash vs. Evil Dead has been the ride of a lifetime,” star Bruce Campbell said in a statement. “Ash Williams was the role of a lifetime. It was an honor to reunite with Evil Dead partners Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi to give our tireless fans another taste of the outrageous horror/comedy they demanded. I will always be grateful to Starz for the opportunity to revisit the franchise that launched our careers.”
Hey you crazy ash-holes. #AshvsEvilDead ends this season, but you'll always be Screwheads to us. #GhostbeaterForLife pic.twitter.com/c8cFe401vV
— Ash vs Evil Dead (@AshvsEvilDead) April 20, 2018
The series launched on Halloween Night in 2015 to 437,000 viewers and was also streamed free on Facebook. It found a strong cult following, but the ratings have declined the last two seasons, with the April 15 episode only drawing 175,000 viewers.
Campbell was an executive producer of the series, along with Raimi and Tapert from the original movies. The show also starred Xena veterans Lucy Lawless and Ted Raimi, as well as Dana DeLorenzo and Ray Santiago.
Campbell reprised his 1981 role as Ash Williams, sporting a chainsaw in place of a hand, in an ongoing gore-filled battle against the undead. In the third season, he discovered he has a long-lost daughter, and in the series finale he unites with the other members of the Ghostbeaters for a final confrontation against a demon infestation in Michigan.
This may not be the last time we see Ash Williams onscreen, as Campbell revealed to Entertainment Weekly at the third season premiere. “We’re going to see what the TV gods have in store for us. We’re ready either way,” he said. “If they take us off the air, we can think about another movie. And if they don’t, we can just keep plugging away.”
Survivor’s Remorse is another series recently canceled by Starz. The network’s current roster of scripted shows includes Power, American Gods, and the critically acclaimed Counterpart. Two new series are in the works, with Sweetbitter and Vida premiering in May.
“Ash vs. Evil Dead has taken audiences on a wild ride for three seasons thanks to the fantastic performances and creative efforts of Sam, Bruce, Rob, and the entire cast and crew,” said Carmi Zlotnik, president of programming at Starz. “We are proud to send the show out with a bang … and a splat.”
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.