Hellboy Reboot Adds Ian McShane As Professor Broom

Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen begins to fill out the rest of its cast, with the addition of American Gods and Deadwood actor, Ian McShane. This is just the latest in a long line of unexpected, but exciting announcements for Hellboy fans over the past few months. After it was officially confirmed earlier this year by the filmmaker himself, that Guillermo del Toro's long-awaited Hellboy 3 with Ron Perlman would never come to be, it was later announced that Lionsgate and Millennium were going to be rebooting the franchise on the big screen in a new collaboration with Hellboy creator, Mike Mignola.

Much to the initial chagrin of del Toro fans everywhere, it was originally announced that the reboot will star David Harbour, the Stranger Things breakout star, in the Hellboy role instead of Perlman. It was then revealed that horror veteran, Neil Marshall, had signed on to direct the ambitious new take on the beloved comic book property. And with Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen reportedly set to begin filming later this Fall, it looks as though progress on the film is only going to continue speeding up over the next few weeks.

THR is reporting today that Ian McShane has officially been cast alongside Harbour in the Hellboy reboot, making him the second actor to sign onto the film. The critically acclaimed actor will reportedly be playing Professor Broom, the adoptive father of Harbour's titular, demonic hero, a role originally played by the late-great John Hurt in del Toro's two previous Hellboy films. In addition, the report states that the new film will find Harbour's Hellboy facing off against a medieval sorceress who seeks to destroy humankind. While there is no word yet on who may be playing the lead female antagonist, it has been confirmed that filming will begin in September in the UK and Bulgaria.

The news of the Hellboy reboot was initially met with mixed reactions from fans, between those who were excited by the opportunities the reboot presented, and those who still felt attached to seeing del Toro's vision for the character being seen through to the end. But over the past few weeks, with Harbour and Ron Perlman even meeting up to discuss the character, the Hellboy fandom has grown increasingly more excited about Rise of the Blood Queen, and this casting of McShane as Broom should only continue that pattern.

Not only is McShane an incredibly talented and qualified actor in his own right, but he has the perfect kind of sardonic humor, intensity, and presence for this world, as anyone who's seen his work in American Gods, Deadwood, or even the John Wick films can attest. With more and more evidence indicating that Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen will be a much darker, bloodier and character driven comic book movie than audiences are more accustomed to seeing, McShane's casting in an integral role like this only makes that much more sense. And with a talented director like Marshall signed on at the helm - who's known for films like The Descent and his spectacular work directing episodes of HBO's Game of Thrones - it's hard to deny just how well this Hellboy reboot is shaping up so far.