It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for Hellboy fans lately. Several months ago, Guillermo del Toro got our hopes up by saying that a third instalment in his series was looking likely. That didn’t last too long, however, as a month later the director announced that despite his best efforts, it just wasn’t going to happen. Thankfully, then, some bittersweet news arrived a few weeks ago when we learned that the character would be coming back to the big screen, just in a different form.
As you no doubt know by now, Hellboy is being rebooted, with director Neil Marshall at the helm and David Harbour playing the titular hero. It was an announcement that came out of left field and while it wasn’t the same as getting a third outing from del Toro, fans were just happy that Red was going to see the inside of a theatre again. Plus, the R-rating and darker and more gruesome take on the character which we’ve been promised is definitely exciting and has us looking forward to seeing how this reboot turns out.
One thing that many people are curious about is how Harbour’s take on the hero will differ from what we saw with Ron Perlman, who gave a defining performance in the role. It’s work that will be hard to match, but the Stranger Things star sounds like he’s up to the task, telling Yahoo! the following in a recent interview:
“[Hellboy] is very rich. I think the films did a certain thing, the comics do a certain thing. Hellboy is kind of a neurotic, messed up individual who’s destined for a horrible fate. He’s destined to become the beast of the apocalypse. Whenever he shows up and does the right thing, people throw beers at him and show up with pitchforks and he still manages to do the right thing. I think it’s funny and it’s sweet and it’s weird and hopefully I can bring that to it as well.”
When asked about the similarities between Hellboy and his Stranger Things character, Harbour said:
“I would not be doing Hellboy if it wasn’t for Stranger Things, no,” Harbour revealed. “I would not. A lot of people responded to it. It’s got a lot of elements — Hopper is a very complicated character and has a lot of levels. And he is heroic, but he’s messed up and I think they want this for this Hellboy as well.”
Finally, the actor touched on following in the footsteps of Perlman, saying that he’s a big fan.
“Patton brokered a peace, it was incredible,” Harbour joked. “I had reached out to Ron because I’m a big fan of his. He’s a really sweet guy and we wanted to just talk shop and I just thought Patton Oswalt would be the perfect chaperone in case Ron and I started to make out or we started dancing too close or if we started getting in a fistfight.”
Last but not least, Harbour took to Instagram this week to share a photo of him behind the scenes of the new reboot, being fitted for the character’s signature weapon: the Right Hand of Doom (which you can check out below). It’s not much, but it does signal that production is now underway and hopefully, that means we’ll start to learn more about what both Harbour and Marshall have in store for us here.
Pitched as a darker and more gruesome take on the unruly hellspawn, Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen is expected to claw its way into theaters sometime next year. David Harbour, meanwhile, has the second season of Stranger Things on the horizon, and Netflix subscribers can look forward to delving a little deeper into the arc of Chief Jim Hopper.
