Ron Perlman says the subject of Hellboy is still an “open wound” for him

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Regardless of being very excited about director Neil Marshall and David Harbour's upcoming HELLBOY film, there's a part of me that wonders what could have been if Ron Perlman and Guillermo del Toro had teamed for one last film in the beloved franchise. As it turns out, great minds tend to think alike, and recently while speaking with Collider for their Collider Live podcast, Perlman referred to the franchise moving on without him as an "open wound."

When Collider hit on the subject of HELLBOY with the iron-jawed actor, Perlman said "I felt like we owed the fans closure, and there were too many people moving in too many other directions and I just couldn't pull it off," he lamented. "So if you ask me about it, it's kind of still an open wound."

The first HELLBOY film came about when other franchise super-starters like X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN were raking in the box office dollars, so it was a bit of a surprise when HELLBOY – something original, gothic, and of a cult pedigree – didn't arrive to mass appeal. According to Perlman, he tried for years to get a third film up and running, but with del Toro being able to write his own ticket after the success of PAN'S LABYRINTH, it proved very difficult for the duo to bring Big Red back for another chapter.

"I never thought it was going through, but I did know that Guillermo had an amazing idea of how to close the trilogy. It was theatrically so dynamic. If you were a fan of the first two Hellboys, not only were you going to have the top of your head blown off by how it resolved, but you were going to get the payoff in the investment because it was always designed to be a trilogy," Perlman told Collider.

Damn, dude. Now you're making me want to see this film even more, despite the idea that it's never going to happen. Furthermore, I think it's a shame that Perlman isn't involved in the upcoming film in any way, even a clever cameo appearance would have been cool. Ah well, I'm certain that Harbour will breathe new life into the character, and should everything go according to plan, perhaps we can get a trilogy out of the reboot after all.

Are you excited for Marshall's HELLBOY? Are you like me in that you're still pissed that we didn't get to see that NYCC trailer? Do you wish that Perlman and del Toro had found a way to make one more sequel to cap their run of the Hellboy character? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Meanwhile, Neil Marshall and David Harbour's HELLBOY will arrive in theaters on April 12, 2019.