HBO's upcoming Hellraiser TV show has recruited creator Clive Barker to produce, but usual franchise star Pinhead needs to quit hogging the spotlight. The funny thing about how iconic Pinhead became was that he was in no way planned to be such a big deal. In Barker's original novella The Hellbound Heart, Pinhead was a fairly minor character in the story overall, and in the first Hellraiser movie, written and directed by Barker himself, Pinhead was a supporting player at best.
Despite Barker's intentions though, Pinhead's extremely cool look and Doug Bradley's mesmerizing performance left most Hellraiser viewers talking most heavily about the eloquent villain. Pinhead got a bit more screentime in Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, then by Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth, he'd become a Freddy Krueger-esque quipping slasher. He also got much less scary and lost a lot of his mystique, but like with Robert Englund continuing to make comedian Freddy watchable, Bradley managed to keep this watered down version of Pinhead entertaining.
Pinhead has been a featured attraction in every Hellraiser movie since, albeit to varying degrees, with some of the sequels trying to put him back into the shadows and bring back some of his aura. Pinhead is unsurprisingly confirmed to be part of HBO's Hellraiser TV show, although it's unclear to what extent. Hopefully, his appearances will be kept to a minimum.
Why the Hellraiser TV Show Shouldn't Be About Pinhead
Obviously, there's no reason to try and make a Hellraiser TV show with no Pinhead involvement. He's a great character, and fans would miss him. That said, Pinhead also comes with so much baggage, and expectations. This is especially true if, as one assumes would happen, a new actor is cast in the role. While Doug Bradley is still active as an actor, he's now 66-years-old, and hasn't played Pinhead in 15 years. There's also a question of if he'd even want to subject himself to countless hours in the makeup chair at this stage of his career. Both actors that have attempted to replace Bradley have been largely dismissed by fans, and the actor's shadow will hang over any portrayal of Pinhead, a factor multiplied ten-fold if he's the star of the show.
Additionally, Pinhead is kind of played out at this point. Couple that with the fact that so, so much of the expanded Hellraiser world portrayed in further books and comics written by both Barker and other authors has yet to be portrayed onscreen, and there's just no real reason to make Pinhead's travails the focus, outside of sheer laziness. The Hellraiser name and brand is famous enough that people, especially horror fans, will tune in to check out HBO's show even without Pinhead being front and center.