Interview: Dana DeLorenzo talks Kelly's role in Ash vs Evil Dead Season 3

Dana DeLorenzo gives Hidden Remote an inside look into the third season of Ash vs Evil Dead. Her character, Kelly, has been alongside Ash since the series start but it’s time for her to forge her own path.

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Ahead of Ash vs Evil Dead’s Season 3 premiere, we spoke to some of the cast to get an inside look into the upcoming installment. So far, we talked to Arielle Carver-O’Neill about playing Ash’s daughter Brandy and fellow newcomer Lindsay Farris, who plays Dalton, the leader of the Knights of Sumeria. Ray Santiago gave us major insight into what Pablo will face in the third season. Now, Dana DeLorenzo shares details about what’s in store for Kelly this season.

After the tumultuous events in Season 2, Kelly decides to leave Elk Grove, as her thirst for revenge against evil shows no signs of slowing down. She meets a key ally and quickly finds herself returning to her fellow Ghost Beaters and is thrown right back into battle. DeLorenzo describes Kelly’s journey this season and shares her thoughts on her character’s relationship with Brandy. She also responds to Ray Santiago’s thoughts on a Kelly and Pablo romance.

Hidden Remote: We saw Kelly struggle a little bit in Season 2 with finding her place in everything that went on. Ruby urges her to forge her own path and we know Kelly isn’t in Elk Grove at the start of the season. How important was it for her to leave and re-find herself?

Dana DeLorenzo: Actually, you are hitting on two points that are basically Kelly’s arc for the season. The forging of the path comes after she returns. So at the beginning of the season, what we’ve come to learn, while Ash and Pablo are perfectly happy with “normal life” setting up shop in Elk Grove–that’s Kelly’s nightmare. Kelly needs to stay in the fight and she knows that evil is just taking a vacation. She can’t trust evil Ruby, not the good Ruby that was killed, the ’80s Ruby who was let out and killed good Ruby. So she hightails it out of there to stay in the fight and while she’s gone she makes a new friend named Dalton who has this history with the Knights of Sumeria and the mythology that we sort of touched on in the franchise back in Army of Darkness.

We see her be this very aggressive bartender in Detroit, she can’t get out of fight mode. She sees this evil taking place on TV and she calls Dalton and says “we were right, let’s go back” and they’re coming for Ash. She’s so excited that evil is back because if there is one thing we learned about Kelly, it’s that all she really wants is a big, tasty, bloody meat plate of revenge. To be honest, fighting evil is the only thing that gives her life meaning and purpose. So when she rolls back into town to save the day with Dalton, she’s happier than she’s been but Pablo’s not too happy. Ash is a little skeptical of this new guy and she’s basically trying to convince him that [Dalton] is on their side, he knows the whole mythology.

The rest of the season, to touch on your second point, is all about forging her path. Kelly follows her own direction for the first time in three seasons and everything that we have been leading up to, every skill she’s learned, every fight she’s had. Everything culminates to one specific moment where Kelly finally gets some agency and follows her own lead. She gets her day in the sun to go one-on-one with evil in an epic battle with Ruby. She goes in alone ready to sacrifice everything. She’s willing to go down because as we’ve seen with Kelly, as long as she goes down swinging, that’s all that matters. She does so because she doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt, she seizes the opportunity when evil will least expect it. The outcome of that, you’ll have to wait and see but I can promise you, she gets her day in the sun and at the same time Kelly will never be the same, she is forever changed from the result of this for better or for worse. And it’s not what you think!

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Hidden Remote: Well, now I just can’t wait!

Dana DeLorenzo: Yeah, she is forging her own path and whether it’s to her advantage or her demise is up for debate. But all I can say is I’m so excited to have taken this journey with Kelly that finally has some agency and she goes for it and man, that’s all I wanted to see from her. I’m really grateful that we get to see that this season.

Hidden Remote: So there’s this new complicated layer with the revelation that Ash has a daughter. Ash has been somewhat of a father figure to Kelly so will there be tension between Kelly and Brandy or might it affect the special relationship between Kelly and Ash?

Dana DeLorenzo: You know, that’s a great question. You’re right, at the start, Kelly rolls up and Pablo and Ash are questioning with a little bit of jealousy with “who is this boy-toy you’re with, who is this Dalton?” while Kelly is like “who is this chick?” It creates a great little conflict among the characters and can be used for fun fodder for the rest of the season. Kelly now realizes [Ash] has a natural real daughter. This is a problem because the reasons Kelly has withheld her feelings for Pablo is because she knows, just like everyone knows who is watching *laughs*, the minute you love someone or really care for someone, they die.

Kelly looks at Brandy at first as an obstacle or liability, if you will, and she has the Ash Williams DNA. But also she’s just this whiny teenager in high school and Kelly gets stuck on babysitting duty and she hates it at first. There is this really fabulous transition that happens where Kelly ends up letting her walls down and takes Brandy under her wing. Kelly starts realizing how similar Brandy is to her, how similar paths they share. Kelly was dragged into this fight with evil, watching her father get eye-forked by her deadite mother then losing her mother, same way that Brandy does. Actually Kelly is the one who is convincing Brandy, “look I know you think your father is an idiot, he kind of is, but he’s also the guy who is going to save the world so you have to trust that.” *laughs*

We love that it’s Kelly who is convincing his daughter that Ash is the one who will save the world and he actually is skilled. It’s a challenge though when you mix a rebel without a cause of a high school teenager with the Ash stubborn DNA, that’s is kind of a hard mix to deal with. Kelly lets her own walls down to let Brandy in to nurture her and bring out the badass and deadite slayer she knows Brandy could be. So what ends up being a slow burn for Kelly this season on all fronts, it starts off a little combative with Brandy and then we see this awesome relationship unfold as Brandy comes into her own and Kelly finds her own path. It’s really great.

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Hidden Remote: So taking yourself out of the role and just being a fan of the show, do you want to see Pablo and Kelly get together?

Dana DeLorenzo: You know, of course I do but I am a fan of the tension. Once you go there with someone that you’re crushing on, it’s great but you can never get that tension back. So in a way I kind of really like to milk the “will they, won’t they” as much as we can but at the same time I am rooting for them. I feel like Kelly is willing to sacrifice everything this season and there comes a moment when it looks like she might lose everything and that’s when she makes the decision in that moment to say for lack of a better word, “f*ck it,” and she goes for it and doesn’t hold back. So all I can tease with Pablo and Kelly we will see their relationship go to a new level. I guarantee you body parts will touch! *laughs*

Hidden Remote: Well I did talk to Ray [Santiago] and I asked him something similar and he said he would love to see it happen. He wants you guys to have a Marge Simpson baby with his hair and your voice.

Dana DeLorenzo: Well, I mean I kind of want an Amy Winehouse baby. Do I sound like Marge? I thought I sound more like Fran Drescher. I don’t know about Marge I feel like I’m more of a Fran Drescher. A Marge Simpson, Amy Winehouse, Cher, Gaga baby.

Hidden Remote: I would be into that!

Dana DeLorenzo: Either way he has the hair, yeah I would too! Put any kind of big hair person as the offspring of Ray, but I could also be like an Al Pacino since my voice is probably lower than Al Pacino *laughs* I’ll let you pick whatever hodgepodge you want. But yes babies in this world, there are some babies in season 3 that aren’t so delightful. So maybe hold off on the making babies part and we go to step one.

Hidden Remote: Okay we will slow down on the topic a little bit.

Dana DeLorenzo: Just tell Ray he needs to SLOW DOWN, hold your horses, Ray!

Hidden Remote: Pablo’s just been waiting such a long time!

Dana DeLorenzo: I mean, also am I wrong? Kelly is the only one with a common sense here. This is not The Young and the Restless, this is Ash vs Evil Dead. If you love someone or kiss someone, they are gonna die! When everyone faults Kelly for putting Pablo in the “friend zone,” it’s not because she’s doing it to be mean, she’s doing it because she loves him. That’s the most shocking thing that no one has really seen. You push someone away or you let them fly because you love them, you let them go. She’s been doing it because she does love him. To go for it is a death sentence. Maybe Kelly is tired of resisting and says f*ck, why not. We’ll see how well that turns out.

Photo Credit: STARZ via STARZ Media Room /

Hidden Remote: What is it like playing one of the most badass women on TV?

Dana DeLorenzo: Oh goodness, you know, I don’t even know how to answer that question. I’m humbled by that statement. I can say that I am so excited and so honored to be part of a growing plethora of strong female characters in every genre, but specifically the horror genre. In the past, the women trope have been the victim, the final girl, or usually the girl running naked in the woods and she falls down. We all know that from the first Evil Dead. So for the showrunners of this show, they knew in order to bring Ash Williams to this time period where he has antiquated views, *laughs* his thoughts on women are a little antiquated, and so they knew in order to let him still be him in all his glory, ignorance, and what we love about Ash William, they had to bring in strong female characters to go toe-to-toe and to call him out on his BS.

I love that Kelly Maxwell loves Ash, and just as any mentor, he has his moments but they are very similar even if she would never admit that. I love that she calls him out and doesn’t let him get away with anything. She’s a ball-buster. Sarcasm is one of her special skills. I am honored that I have been able to be a part of this character and grow with this character within the franchise and really change what the stereotypes of the trope of the female character in horror rarely is. I hope we get more characters like this is the future.

Next: Interview: Ray Santiago talks Ash vs Evil Dead Season 3

Check out Dana DeLorenzo and the next chapter of Kelly’s journey when Ash vs Evil Dead returns for its third season, February 25 on STARZ!

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Interview: Dana DeLorenzo talks Ash vs Evil Dead Season 3

By Kara Hedash | Feb 21, 2018

Dana DeLorenzo gives Hidden Remote an inside look into the third season of Ash vs Evil Dead. Her character, Kelly, has been alongside Ash since the series start but it’s time for her to forge her own path.