This article contains spoilers for Hulu's HellraiserHulu's Hellraiser doesn't explore the origin of Jamie Clayton's Pinhead, but could she really be series heroine Kirsty Cotton? Hellraiser is one of the most unique horror franchises to emerge from the '80s horror boom. Despite Doug Bradley's Hell Priest (AKA Pinhead) soon taking his place alongside Jason Voorhees, Chucky or Freddy Krueger, the series itself wasn't quite as straightforward as its slasher brethren. Creator Clive Barker infused Hellraiser with a dark and (literally) twisted sexuality with themes of Catholic guilt and cosmic horror. This made it trickier to sequelize, and by the end of the '90s, the movies were heading straight to DVD.
After spending years in development hell, Hellraiser 2022 is restoring some dignity to the saga. Hulu's reboot offers a clean slate storywise - though the themes and gruesome visuals of Barker's work are correct and present. It also introduced viewers to a new take on Pinhead (who technically isn't a villain), played by Sense8's Jamie Clayton. Despite not turning up until an hour has passed, The Priest is one of the most memorable parts of the movie. The reboot offers no origin or backstory to any of the Cenobites, but assuming a direct Hellraiser sequel happens, it could explore the comic twist of making original protagonist Kirsty Cotton the latest Pinhead.
Kirsty Cotton's Role In The Original Series
Kirsty was played by Ashley Lawrence in the original Hellraiser franchise and was introduced as the daughter of Larry Cotton (Andrew Robinson). Larry was married to Julia (Clare Higgins), who had a torrid affair with his brother Frank (Sean Chapman) prior to the wedding. It was Frank opening the Lament Configuration puzzle box and being dragged to Hell by the Cenobites that set the story in motion. Kirsty later opens the box accidentally and strikes a deal to give up the escaped Frank, and by the end of the movie, her family is dead and the puzzle box is retaken.
In Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, Kirsty is admitted to a psychiatric hospital and receives nightmarish visions of her tortured father begging her to save him from Hell. She ventures into "The Labyrinth," braves the God Leviathan and his Cenobites - led by Pinhead, of course - and after defeating a new demon, escapes to start a new life. Lawrence briefly cameoed in Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth, and returned for the last time in 2002's Hellraiser: Hellseeker (which confirmed the fate of Kirsty's father). This revealed that in the years after Hellbound, she married a man named Trevor (Dean Winters), who conspired with others to kill her and take her inheritance. She offered Pinhead their souls in exchange for hers, killing Trevor and his friends, with the former - and presumably the others - damned to be tortured by the Cenobites for eternity.
Kirsty Becomes Pinhead In The Comics
Fans of Hellraiser may have been looking forward to Kirsty's Hellseeker return, but it turned out to be little more than an extended cameo. It didn't help that despite being played again by Lawrence, the character and her willingness to kill others to save her own skin (again, literally) didn't mesh with the one seen in previous outings. Kirsty's most recent appearance came in a BOOM! comic series, which found her switching places with her old foe and becoming the new Hell Priest. Barker - who HATED Hellraiser 5 - himself had a creative hand in these comics and the idea of turning Hellraiser's most famous Final Girl into Pinhead was the boldest stroke of the series - and only ripe for a live-action iteration.
The New Hellraiser Could Be Canon With The Originals
Hulu's Hellraiser has received a broadly positive response and is billed as a reboot of the entire saga. In truth, Hellraiser, as a property was calling out for a creative overhaul, as years of cheaply produced STV sequels had damaged its good name. That said, there's nothing in Hellraiser 2022 that overtly contradicts or rewrites the events of previous stories. No past characters return, and outside of a redesign for the Lament Configuration and expanding the lore surrounding it and the Cenobites, it could function as a new sequel.
This might be by design. Legacy sequels such as Halloween 2018 or Scream 2022 drew on past movies while updating for a new audience. Of course, Hellraiser hasn't been a theatrical series since the '90s, so a clean slate that introduced newcomers to Barker's world and mythology behind it was a smart move. While some followers of the past films could argue the introduction of a female Pinhead or a new version of the Chatterer proves it can't be connected to the original canon, that isn't strictly true. Outside of Bradley, Pinhead has been played by two other actors, meaning the Pinhead seen in Hellraiser: Revelations or 2018's Judgment might not be the same "Hell Priest," while there have been several different iterations of Chatterer in later films.
A Hellraiser Sequel Should Expand Pinhead's Origin
All of which comes back to Clayton's Pinhead in Hulu's Hellraiser. There's essentially no backstory or explanation given for her origins, which was the same in the 1987's film. However, in Hellraiser II, it's revealed Bradley's Pinhead was once a soldier named Elliott Spencer, who was transformed into the Hell Priest after solving the Lament Configuration. The sequel to Hellraiser 2022 could reveal that Clayton's Pinhead is really Kirsty, either revealing Hulu's film is canon with the originals - or at the very least, the first two entries - or offering a radically different take on the character. Adding connections to the original Kirsty would be the more emotional path to take, and there would be a power to exploring what happened to her following the events of the previous Hellraiser movies.
Hulu's Hellraiser doesn't really set itself up for a direct follow-up, meaning the next film can also start with a clean template. Further exploring the world of the Cenobites, Leviathan and the Labyrinth is an obvious place to begin, and given the praise that's greeted Clayton's performance, expanding her role only makes sense. That Hellraiser sequel is also likely to introduce characters from the past, and since Kirsty is very much the Laurie Strode of the franchise, making her the new Pinhead would be a completely new approach. How she became a Cenobite and whether she can be redeemed - as Elliott Spencer (briefly) was - are intriguing questions to seed into the next story, but even if that doesn't happen, it's just good to have the franchise back on track after so many years.