The Hellboy reboot starring David Harbour didn’t do too hot in theaters despite featuring a character whose head literally bursts into flames. The film was a financial and critical dud, and even Harbour himself admitted that it had “major problems.” Fans were also puzzled by the seemingly odd choice to recast the character despite Ron Perlman‘s beloved portrayal of the beer-chugging demon. However, in a new interview, Perlman drops the revelation that he actually was approached to star in the Hellboy reboot, but he turned it down because it was missing one very vital component.
While promoting the VOD release of his new movie Run with the Hunted, Perlman revealed to Comic Book Movie that the third Hellboy movie was offered to him, but he had to give it a hard pass if original Hellboy director Guillermo Del Toro wasn’t involved:
“The reboot was something I had the opportunity to participate in and decided that the only version of Hellboy I’m interested in is the one I do with Guillermo and so in walking away from it, I truly walked away from it, and haven’t seen it or heard much about it. I wished them well, but it was not in my bailiwick.”
While fans of the first two Hellboy films from Perlman and Del Toro have been patiently waiting for that story to be wrapped up in a third installment, the Hellboy reboot bombing may have completely scuttled the chances of that ever happening. Then again, with the advent of streaming services battling for new content and reviving projects, who knows what might happen down the road.
(Via Comic Book Movie)