Original Hellboy star Ron Perlman is wishing fellow actor David Harbour well as the Stranger Things star takes on the title role in the upcoming reboot of the movie series. It's been an eventful year in the Hellboy movie universe, starting in February when writer-director Guillermo del Toro – fueled by encouragement from fans to find a way to round out his trilogy starring Perlman – sadly announced that "100 percent the sequel will not happen."

After a few months with virtually no indication that anything further was brewing with the character, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola dropped a massive surprise on fans earlier this month that an R-rated reboot of the movie series was happening with Harbour in lead. With Game of Thrones director Neil Marshall already in place, details about the reboot spilled out quickly, from the announcement of the working title Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, to the tone of the film – which screenwriter Andrew Cosby says will be “darker” and “more gruesome” than del Toro’s movies about the demon antihero.

With filming starting as soon as September on the reboot, Perlman is taking the opportunity to wish his successor good luck with the role. According to Dread Central, Perlman talked about Harbour during a panel session at Detroit's Motor City Comic Con this weekend. He says:

“David Harbour is a good dude. I wish him nothing but the best when it comes to the retooling of HB.”

Perlman was also asked for details about what fans might have seen with Hellboy 3, to which he responded:

“The third one was meant to be epic and conclusive and a resolve for all these, almost, Greek oracle promises of the destiny of Hellboy. It would’ve made for a really good movie, I think.”

While fans of del Toro and Perlman's are still likely mourning the fact that Hellboy 3 will never be produced, they can at least have some comfort knowing that Perlman was gracious enough to wish Harbour good luck. That's a lot coming from an actor who literally defined the role in the 2004 original, and continued to make it his own with the dazzling sequel Hellboy: The Golden Army in 2008.

While Perlman already found success with such roles as the Beast on the the late 1980s series Beauty and the Beast and worked non-stop leading up to Hellboy in 2004, there's no question that the role took his career to an entirely new level. With any luck, he'll use the sense of appreciation he gained from Hellboy and support (with del Toro, hopefully) Harbour's version of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense detective as it comes together.

Next: Hellboy: Can David Harbour Truly Replace Ron Perlman?

Source: Dread Central