The cinematic version of Mike Mingold's comic book creation HELLBOY is getting a reboot next year, with a new film from director Neil Marshall that puts Stranger Things' David Harbour in the title role. When the hell-spawned Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development agent goes into the field this time around, he won't be joined by the pyrokinetic Liz Sherman or the amphibious Abe Sapien, as he was in the previous films directed by Guillermo del Toro. This time Hellboy's companions in the battle against supernatural threats are Major Ben Daimio (Daniel Dae Kim), who can turn into a jaguar, and Alice Monaghan (Sasha Lane), "who retains a connection to the magical world after being kidnapped by fairies as a child."
Entertainment Weekly got their hands on a new image from the film that shows Hellboy, Alice, and Ben together. This can be seen below.
They also got a quote from Harbour in which he assures fans that the new film is "not an origin story". It will, however, deal with Hellboy
coming to terms with where he came from. He’s been Hellboy for a long time, but there’s a new turn of events at the start of the film, where people start to bring up the fact that he might bring about the end of the world, and it’s really the first time he’s heard anything like that. The question that comes up in the movie is where does he really belong?"
While Hellboy is trying to figure out where he belongs, the villainous Nimue the Blood Queen (Milla Jovovich) tries to lure him to the dark side. Harbour had this to say about her:
We really three-dimensionalized her in the movie. She was brought up in a culture that treated her kind a certain way, and it wasn’t always deserving. That’s the point that becomes compelling to Hellboy and spins his head around."
Also in the cast of the new HELLBOY are Ian McShane as Hellboy's mentor Professor Broom, Penelope Mitchell as the elder witch Ganeida, Sophie Okonedo as the seer Lady Hatton, Alistair Petrie as Lord Adam Glaren of the supernatural mystery investigating Osiris Club, Brian Gleeson as the wizard Merlin, and (possibly) Thomas Haden Church as Lobster Johnson.
Scripted by Mignola, Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden, and Aron Coleite, the film is scheduled to be released on April 12, 2019… and a trailer is supposed to arrive online tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing Harbour's Hellboy in action.