If, like me, you love all things Guillermo del Toro, then the following article may go some way towards disappointing you – the Hellboy franchise, unfortunately, seems dead in the water.
Yes, we’re afraid to report, following the most recent bout of information we’ve gotten wind of regarding that big red hell-spawn with the rock-solid fist, it looks as though a third installment of del Toro’s beautifully flawed Hellboy will not be coming to the screen any time soon. The saddest thing is, even as he downplayed fans’ hopes, the Mexican director gave us some truly teasing comments on what could have been.
Speaking in a recent Reddit AMA session, del Toro had the following to say about the matter:
“Well, you know, we don’t have that movie on the horizon, but the idea for it was to have Hellboy finally come to terms with the fact that his destiny, his inevitable destiny, is to become the beast of the Apocalypse, and having him and Liz face the sort of, that part of his nature, and he has to do it, in order to be able to ironically vanquish the foe that he has to face in the 3rd film. He has to become the best of the Apocalypse to be able to defend humanity, but at the same time he becomes a much darker being. It’s a very interesting ending to the series, but I don’t think it will happen.”
This vision certainly matches star Ron Perlman’s bold statement in an interview for The Playlist a few months ago. Speaking to that website, the actor divulged:
“I’d like to finish it. I’d like for there to be a third film because the first two films were set up for this huge resolve and he [Guillermo del Toro] already understands what that resolve will look like. He never gave me the nuts and bolts of it, but he gave me a rather broad strokes sketch of what the third film would look like and it’s so epic and so deserved by the fans that hung in there for the first two that I really feel as though it’s essential that we make it. So I fight for it every day. Sometimes I’m the only voice and sometimes there are others, but I’m never going to stop trying to get Hellboy 3 made!”
As an avid del Toro and Hellboy fan, I was happy to read that at least somebody is still fighting for a finale to this storyline. The franchise is easily Perlman’s most iconic work, eclipsing his stint on Sons of Anarchy, as well as the highlight of his long-standing professional relationship with del Toro.
It’s disappointing to know what could have been but for meager box-office results. In a perfect world, things like money wouldn’t be an issue and, despite the films’ shortcomings financially, we would still be lucky enough to see another Hellboy for the sake of art and creativity.
Alas, we do not live in that world.