For almost a whole decade after 2008’s Hellboy: The Golden Army hit cinemas, both the fans and the filmmakers of the first two movies based on Big Red campaigned to get a closer to the trilogy off the ground. Unfortunately, all this came to nothing and news hit earlier this year that, while there would be a new Hellboy movie heading our way, it was to be a complete reboot without the involvement of previous key figures, namely director Guillermo del Toro and star Ron Perlman.
In a new interview, Perlman was asked how he felt about all of those years of hoping coming to naught and it seems he has a very practical way of dealing with it: to keep on moving forward with his career and retaining “no regrets” about the past.
“It’s completely in my rearview mirror. We fought a good fight to get the trilogy finished, that didn’t happen. And I’m very, very, very happy with the world of creative choices that I’m working on now. So there are no regrets.”
This statement echoes comments the actor’s previously made about the Hellboy reboot in a Reddit AMA, claiming that he “had made peace with it.” He also said that he was refusing to answer questions on the topic, so Indiewire should be thankful they even got a reply out of him in their interview.
Likewise, Perlman isn’t lying when he says he’s put the franchise in his “rearview mirror.” When asked if he would ever consider making a cameo in the new movie as a nod to his past history with the character, he quipped: “When Hellboy freezes over.”
Though it won’t feature Perlman, there are still many reasons to excited about the Hellboy reboot. Directed by Neil Marshall and starring Stranger Things‘ David Harbour, the new movie will be an R-rated horror flick that will depict a much more “complex” take on the titular demonic hero than we’ve previously seen. It’s currently filming in both the UK and Bulgaria. A release date has yet to be set, though one report cited early 2019 as the target. As always, watch this space for more.