A new installment of the Hellraiser horror movie franchise is on the way, bringing with it a new version of its most famous character: Pinhead. Based on Clive Barker's book The Hellbound Heart, Hellraiser (which Barker also wrote and directed) originally arrived in 1987 to scare audiences with its interdimensional villain Pinhead (Doug Bradley) as the central figure of a group of beings known as the "cenobites." The unforgettable look of Pinhead and the cenobites and their built-in capacity to frighten audiences made them one of Clive Barker's best known creations, while Hellraiser would continue to grow in a big horror franchise of movies, books, and comics.
In the Hellraiser franchise, the cenobites are former humans who have transformed into pinheaded beings for whom pleasure and pain mean the same thing. The cenobites are summoned from their dimension to ours with the use of a puzzle box. Bradley's Pinhead is the central cenobite of the Hellraiser movies, capturing victims to subject to the cenobite's sadomasochism. Jamie Clayton will portray a female Pinhead as the latest successor to Doug Bradley's original rendition in the newest Hellraiser, following Stephan Smith Collins in Hellraiser: Revelations and Paul T. Taylor in Hellraiser: Judgment. With the new Hellraiser to land on Hulu on October 7, the newest entry in the series could change up the role of Pinhead a bit.
The upcoming Hellraiser will follow a similar premise to the original with Riley (Odessa A'zion), who stumbles upon a puzzle box and inadvertently uses it to bring the cenobites to Earth. Director David Bruckner's description of his take on Hellraiser indicates that the movie will have both a familiar and re-imagined story for Hellraiser fans, with that also extended to the film's new Pinhead as portrayed by Jamie Clayton. Here is what has been revealed about Clayton's Pinhead and how the new main cenobite of the Hellraiser franchise could be a somewhat new character in Bruckner's entry in the series.
Jamie Clayton's Pinhead In Hellraiser Explained
Bruckner has stressed that the new Hellraiser will not be a remake, instead describing it as "a new story in the Hellraiser universe" in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Bruckner also stated that he and Clayton strove to differentiate the latter's Pinhead from Doug Bradley's as much as possible, saying, "There will be suffering, but you're going to get a sense of what Pinhead's desires might be in a way that hits a little different." While that is a somewhat vague description of Clayton's take on Pinhead, especially with the cenobite's blurring the lines of pleasure and pain to the point of being indistinguishable, the presence of new cenobites such as the Masque could suggest a very new personality and leadership style on the part of Clayton's Pinhead among Hellraiser's cenobites.
While Hellraiser sharing the same title as the 1987 original might connote a plot along roughly the same lines in the new film, Bruckner's emphasis on it not being a remake offers some clarity. Riley being described as grappling with addiction issues could provide a new context to the arrival of the cenobites in the new Hellraiser. Addiction as a very primary theme might be an angle Brucker's Hellraiser particularly zeroes in on with the cenobites possibly being viewed by Riley and other characters through that perspective.
Why Jamie Clayton Is Playing A New Pinhead
Bruckner's description of his Hellraiser seems to fall into the category of essentially a "requel" (the characteristics of which Jasmine Savon Brown's Mindy explains in 2022's Scream) Clayton's Pinhead might be intended as a direct successor to Bradley's in leading the cenobites, with the shared similarity of both Clayton's and Bradley's Pinhead not technically being a villain. This could follow directly on Pinhead being rendered mortal at the end of Hellraiser: Judgment or might also make little direct reference to Bradley's Pinhead to tell a relatively standalone story.
While Pinhead has been shown as an arbiter of pain and pleasure, a grim reaper-type figure, and other personality traits, Clayton's take on Pinhead sounds somewhat more individualized compared to Bradley's, as hinted at by Bruckner's comment on Pinhead's desires. With Pinhead potentially having a very new agenda in the newest installment of the Hellraiser franchise, one that could use Riley's addiction issues as its basis, it makes sense for Clayton to embody an entirely new version of Hellraiser's iconic antagonist Pinhead.
