Ash vs Evil Dead: Who is Dalton?

Hey now. Who’s that tall, dark, and handsome stranger that’s giving me the side eye over there? Oh, wait. It’s me catching a glimpse of my own reflection again. Whoops. That tends to happen a lot, and I never seem to get used to it.

You know what else I’m getting used to? The newest additions to the cast of Ash vs Evil Dead. It’s getting to be wee bit crowded around the town of Elk Grove these days, and judging from the latest episodes of the freshly retooled, brand spanking new third season of our favorite gore-com (it’s like a sitcom but with more gore), that is not a bad thing whatsoever.

Kelly’s new – ahem – friend Dalton is a Knight of Sumeria. What does that mean? It means that his character is more intimately connected to the lore of Evil Dead‘s canon than Ash himself. Maybe even more intimately connected than he is with Kelly. Zing! 

Dalton is played by Australian actor Lindsay Farris who graced us with a few minutes of his time to play a game of five questions with us about joining the show and how Evil Dead has been a big part of his life since he was just a kid.

During our recent interview with new showrunner Mark Verheiden, he told us that besides Brandy (Ash’s daughter), your character Dalton will be really important because he will help us explore the mythology of Evil Dead a little bit more than we have in the past. Can you tell us a little bit about this?

Lindsay Farris:Dalton is a Knight of Sumeria. The last time we saw the Knights of Sumeria was in the original film franchise and back then…I mean, I was introduced to the film franchise when I was I think maybe 14 years old. My grandma used to show The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Evil Dead to me and my uncle on Betamax. It was like a bonding thing for my family because the rest of my family hated horror.

But that was kind of the last time I or anyone else saw the Knights of Sumeria. Back then they were riding horses in chainmail and using spears and now they’re riding motorcycles and using shotguns.

But the mythology and the stuff that we introduce in season three that Dalton brings with him there’s a lot of easter eggs that have been placed throughout because I went back to that original source material and because Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell are still involved, you’ve still got the pioneers of that world that are steering you in the right direction.

So there are throwbacks to those original films that I think fans of the show can keep an eye out for, so Dalton brings that in.

Let’s talk about how you were cast on this wild and crazy show. Were you in Australia when you auditioned? Also, how was it for you to fit into a cast that has already spent a couple years forging a strong bond together?

Lindsay: Well, Dalton couldn’t be more different than the last role I played. I was playing a concert pianist in the 18th century, and I was living between Budapest and London and I just got to Los Angeles and the script came to me.

It was an immediate throwback to when I was a kid, and so I wanted particularly to do it because of the family dynamic that I had with my family that harkened back to my grandmother’s side with the film when I was a kid, but in stepping onto the set, it is a family in of itself.

But the thing that Dana and Ray went through is that every new character that comes into this show is just trying to honor the brilliant franchise that Bruce, Sam, and Rob set up all those years ago and they couldn’t be more welcoming – especially Dana! 

I mean, you learn really quick, y’know, because there’s such a pace and there’s hardly any time to kind of scratch your head and worry about fitting in. Everyone is thrown into the deep end from the second they arrive on set.

Being a Knight of Sumeria, did you have to do a lot of stunt sequences this season?

Lindsay: Ahh. Look, the only skill set that I share with Dalton, or shared with him prior to starting, was that I could ride a motorbike. So everything else I learned…We had such a brilliant stunt team in New Zealand, they’re second to none.

So it was about learning how to ride a motorcycle while shooting an AK-47 and a shotgun and doing flips and jumps and…(laughs)

It took months of preparation to do this one particular stunt that had about twenty different benchmarks and you jump in this and shoot at that and fire…and this one leaf just wouldn’t let out! It was like, “No, I’m here for [all of] season three!” And it was just like hogging the lens and you’re like “Nooo!” and you’re willing to break a rib to get the shot. We got it. It’s not easy in the bush at three in the morning.

What are some of the lessons that both of you have learned from working closely with the great and powerful Lucy Lawless?

Lindsay: So many. Something she taught me was that if you do some physical action at the same time that you’re talking, [the editor] cannot possibly cut around it. So the more you kind of weave your own edit together, that more you can shape the cut, is why I learned.

If you could sum up the third season of Ash vs Evil Dead in one word, what would it be? 

Lindsay: Jaw-dropping.