Ron Perlman says that the Hellboy franchise is now firmly in his past. One can't blame Perlman for wanting to move on, as both he and director Guillermo Del Toro tried very hard to get a third installment of their Hellboy series made. Unfortunately, those hopes never came to pass, and now Stranger Things star David Harbour is teaming up with new director Neil Marshall to reboot Hellboy for the big screen.
Despite Perlman's desire to move forward with his career, he'll likely always be closely linked to the Hellboy role, as there has rarely been a casting decision that felt more perfect to most fans than Perlman getting hired to play Mike Mignola's infernal hero. While Perlman has been acting for nearly 40 years at this point - and boasts over 200 film and TV roles on his resume - Hellboy is in many ways his signature role, and will likely remain so regardless of how well Harbour plays the part.
Related: Guillermo del Toro Shares Thoughts on Hellboy Recasting
While Perlman recently said that he would no longer answer questions related to Hellboy, he's seemingly softened his stance on the subject, once again addressing both the cinematic future of "Big Red" and the third Del Toro film that might have been. Here's his full quote, from a recent interview with IndieWire.
"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."
As alluded to in Perlman's answer, the veteran actor is certainly not at a loss for material to sink his teeth into as of late. Perlman starred in the recently ended Amazon Prime series Hand of God, and also joined the cast of Crackle drama StartUp for its recently debuted second season. Perlman also continues to do a lot of voice work, such as in the recent animated project Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom, which also featured other notable genre names like Mark Hamill, Jeffrey "Herbert West" Combs, and Doug "Pinhead" Bradley.
While Perlman clearly sees Hellboy as being firmly behind him, he probably shouldn't expect to stop being asked questions about it anytime soon, whether or not he once again pledges not to answer them going forward. Such is the curse of being really great in an iconic role. For proof, Perlman could just ask Robert Englund, who - despite being 70 years old - is still constantly asked about reprising Freddy Krueger. Some roles just stay with you forever.
More: How David Harbour’s Hellboy Can Overcome Ron Perlman’s Legacy
Source: IndieWire
