Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen is currently eyeing a filming start date for later this Fall, and it's been quite a wild ride for Hellboy fans over the past couple of weeks. After it looked like the character would not be seen again on the big screen for a long time - following Guillermo del Toro's discouraging comments about Hellboy 3 - it was suddenly announced that the property was going to be rebooted with Stranger Things star, David Harbour, playing Hellboy this time around. It was then subsequently confirmed that The Descent and Game of Thrones director Neil Marshall would be helming the film, effectively erasing the possibility of Ron Perlman and del Toro ever getting to continue their take on the character.

Despite the initially mixed reaction to the announcement, the buzz has been steadily growing around the Hellboy reboot, which is currently titled Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen. With a charismatic star like Harbour onboard and Marshall at the helm, it's not hard to see why fans are starting to get excited about this reboot, which promises to be an R-rated version that's even darker and more gruesome than either of del Toro's films were.

While recently speaking with The Wrap about the film, Harbour also announced that Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen is currently set to begin filming sometime this September. The actor then went on to talk about why this particular take feels more like it has more in common with a dark character piece than a traditional superhero movie might:

“We’re supposed to go in September, I hope. It’s good. It’s a whole new thing. I’d always been a fan of the comics and there’s a darker tone to it and I think in the climate we have now there’s kind of a darker… a desire for more of that… the script is good and this guy Neil Marshall is directing who’s really good and the aesthetic is great. So often, the superhero movies can be really fun and I want this to be really fun, but I also want it to be more of a character piece and more about this dude’s struggle. I think it could be interesting. I don’t know, I just hope we make a good movie. We’ll see. You be the judge!”

While del Toro and Perlman were clearly shocked and disheartened by the news at first, both have come forward in the weeks since to show their support for Harbour and Marshall. Just yesterday even, Harbour and Perlman were shown with Patton Oswalt having dinner, around the same time that Harbour teased his prosthetic fitting for the character's iconic right hand of doom.

Aside from the clear loyalty that Hellboy fans will always have for Perlman's take, Harbour is a fairly perfect choice for the character of Hellboy. His work as Chief Hopper in Stranger Things had the actor tapping into a melancholic, no-nonsense kind of attitude that is strikingly similarly in Hellboy, which Harbour himself even pointed out earlier today. So with a number of creative team members attached to Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen who have proven themselves time and time again as capable of delivering in their respective roles, this is shaping up to be one of the more promising reboots to come along in recent memory.

Next: Hellboy Reboot Promo Art On Display At Cannes

Source: The Wrap