Hellboy is coming back. Not played by Ron Perlman and no longer a part of Guillermo Del Toro‘s world, however. Mike Mingola, creator of the Hellboy comics, announced that a reboot is in the works with Stranger Things star David Harbour set to take over the lead role.
Neil Marshall (Game Of Thrones, The Descent) is set to direct with Mingola co-writing the script alongside Andrew Crosby and Christopher Golden. Mingola also confirmed that the reboot will be R-Rated.
Hellboy was originally adapted in 2004, and though Del Toro’s film didn’t pull in huge box office numbers, it was a hit on home video and led to the sequel Hellboy: The Golden Army in 2008. Rising production costs made a third sequel unlikely despite a solid box office return, and while Del Toro examined the prospects of a third film with Perlman and Mingola, he concluded that it wouldn’t happen.
Which leads us to this reboot. While fans clamouring for a finale to the original trilogy might be disappointed, technology has advanced since even the original Hellboy 13 years ago, and with studios now far more accepting of giving big budget films R-ratings, this could allow the new film to be a much purer adaptation of the comics, and a chance to become a major franchise.
Harbour’s stock has been rising – he was in the running to play Cable in Deadpool 2 before Josh Brolin got the role – but naturally this will be his biggest role yet. Same with Marshall, really, who has directed critically acclaimed episodes of Game Of Thrones, as well as episodes of Westworld and Hannibal, but this will be his most high profile directing gig yet.
Del Toro’s original adaptations of the comic set a pretty high bar with his unique visual palette, so Marshall and co. have some big shoes to fill. Fans might be split as to whether they’re happy Hellboy is back or disappointed that the original trilogy was cut off at the knees before having a chance to be completed, but it shows how far Hollywood has come in regards to comic book adaptations since 2004’s Hellboy.
Back then, the film was a huge risk with studios not convinced there was much of an audience for comic book heroes. Fast forward thirteen years later, and those same heroes are driving Hollywood into a new age of interconnected universes. How things change.
#Peace.Love.Hellboy
