‘Hellboy’ Reboot Was Originally A Sequel To Previous Movies

While Guillermo Del Toro’s incredibly busy schedule was largely what was keeping him from directing a third Hellboy movie, comic book series creator Mike Mignola noted that he wasn’t planned to return the director’s chair. However, the project that is now the reboot Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen was still intended to be a sequel to Del Toro’s movies.

Nerdist recently got to sit down with Mignola to discuss his comic book franchise at length, naturally reaching the talking point of the two existing movie adaptations and the upcoming third. Mignola revealed that he actually discussed the possibility of the next film being a continuation with both Del Toro and star Ron Perlman returning, but he noted that his project was going to take a different direction even if both director and actor would return in some capacity:

“I would’ve loved to see Guillermo do his third movie and finish that story. But over the years it became very clear that wasn’t going to happen. About three years ago the producers, the screenwriter Andrew Cosby, and I all started working on this new story. Del Toro didn’t want to have anything to do with it, he wasn’t going to direct. He was offered to be a producer, and Ron [Perlman] wouldn’t do it without Guillermo.”

Mignola would go on to explain that ultimately, he didn’t think that another director should have taken the helm of what would more or less be another Del Toro movie, which is a reason why the movie is a reboot and not a sequel:

“So we originally started trying to tie it to the del Toro universe and continue those movies. But once we had Neil Marshall, we thought, ‘Why are we going to try and continue that universe?’ Because a del Toro movie is a del Toro movie, and you don’t want to try and hand a del Toro movie to someone else. Especially someone as great as Neil Marshall. So that’s when it went from being this continuation to being a reboot,” Mignola enthused. “It’s exciting to have another director. It’s exciting to take another path, to take that material and give it another leaning.”

While this news probably still burns for fans who were hoping for a proper conclusion to Del Toro’s series, there should at least be some comfort in knowing that the franchise’s creator reached out to the duo behind the movie series.

Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen will be released in late 2018, directed by Neil Marshall. The movie has David Harbour attached to star as the title hero.

Source: Nerdist