Earlier this year, HELLBOY / HELLBOY II director Guillermo del Toro gathered Ron Perlman, the actor who played the heroic Hellboy in his films, and Hellboy comic book creator Mike Mignola together for a serious conversation about whether or not he would ever get to finish the HELLBOY trilogy he had planned. The result: the confirmation that del Toro's HELLBOY III will never be made.
Just over two months later, we found out why there would be no sequel – it's because a reboot is already in the works. DOG SOLDIERS / THE DESCENT director Neil Marshall will be taking the helm of a film called HELLBOY: RISE OF THE BLOOD QUEEN, working from a screenplay written by Mignola, Andrew Cosby, and Christopher Golden. With the announcement of this project also came the revelation that the new iteration of Hellboy had already been cast – the next time we see Hellboy on screen, he'll be played by Stranger Things' David Harbour.
This left Ron Perlman out of a role that he was passionate about and had long wanted to reprise. But, you can't hold anything against the actor who follows in your footsteps, and to make sure there would be no bad blood between Hellboy past and Hellboy future, comedian Patton Oswalt decided to bring Perlman and Harbour together for a detente dinner.
After dinner, Perlman made a light-hearted post on his Facebook page to share a picture of himself and Harbour with Oswalt, the caption including a message to Harbour: "good luck kid!" Oswalt also wrote about the dinner on his Twitter account, calling it a smashing success.
Meanwhile, Harbour was busy doing his own Hellboy business on social media, sharing a picture on his Instagram account that shows the first step in the crafting of his Hellboy's "Right Hand of Doom".
Hellboy is coming back with a different actor under the makeup, and the torch has been officially, and nicely, passed from Perlman to Harbour.