As Lionsgate and Millenium’s Hellboy reboot – which, apparently, won’t be an origin story – gears up to enter production this fall, it’s starting to put together quite the cast. In recent weeks, we’ve seen Ian McShane, Sasha Lane and Milla Jovovich all hop on board to join David Harbour in the title role and now, we have word of yet another exciting addition: Deadpool star Ed Skrein.
Best known for playing Ajax in the Merc with a Mouth’s first solo outing on the big screen, the actor has signed on for Neil Marshall’s new take as Major Ben Daimio, “a rugged military member of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense who, due to a supernatural encounter, can turn into a jaguar when angered or in pain.”
That’s all we’ve got to go on for now, but story-wise, it’s been confirmed that the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense will factor into things, presumably to lay the groundwork for a potential sequel – heck, there’s even been talk of a shared universe being born from Neil Marshall’s hotly-anticipated redo. This, coupled with the alleged slew of supporting characters and that aforementioned cast has us very excited for the future of Hellboy indeed.
After years spent trying to launch a third film, Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman have officially walked away from the fantasy franchise, but their departure is bittersweet, as it now leaves the door open for fresh blood to take Mike Mignola’s cigar-chomping demon in a whole new direction. How this reboot will stack up against del Toro’s series remains to be seen, of course, but Marshall’s a talented filmmaker and it sounds like he’s putting together something pretty special here. With an R-rating and a darker take on the material, we’ve no doubt that the flick will, at the very least, go down well with fans.
Filming on the Hellboy reboot is due to commence sometime next month ahead of a planned release in 2018. The Powers That Be have yet to announce an official due date, but we’ll bringing you all the latest as more information surfaces from the underworld.
