Ron Perlman explained why he turned down the chance to appear in 2019's Hellboy reboot.
"The reboot was something I had the opportunity to participate in and decided that the only version of Hellboy I'm interested in is the one I do with Guillermo and so in walking away from it, I truly walked away from it, and haven't seen it or heard much about it," Perlman told ComicBookMovie.com. "The only thing that's stopping the third Hellboy film is the fact that Guillermo [del Toro] is one of the busiest guys in the business. He couldn't do it with all the stuff he's got lined up even if wanted to. "
Expanding on his feelings toward the reboot, Perlman added, "I wished them well, but it was not in my bailiwick."
While there was a lot of hype surrounding Guillermo Del Toro's potential Hellboy 3 and the director had mapped out a story to round off his trilogy, the project fell into development hell and was eventually replaced by Neil Marshall's reboot, with David Harbour in the leading role.
Despite an all-star cast featuring Harbour, Ian McShane and Milla Jovovich, as well as the involvement of character creator Mike Mignola and promises of an R-rated movie closer to the comic book source material, 2019's Hellboy bombed at the box office. Although reports suggested director Neill Marshall had planned to kick-start a new franchise, Hellboy only grossed $44 million and Harbour downplayed the idea of a sequel. Last year, Perlman said he'd love to ignore Marshall's movie and complete the trilogy if funding could be found.