It has been nearly 15 years since Ron Perlman last appeared as Hellboy and a lot has happened since then. Still, Perlman is willing to step back into the character for a future film. Not because he's eager to reprise the role, but because he wants to make the fans happy.
In an interview with The Independent, Perlman said, "Am I eager to do Hellboy 3? No, I'm 71 f***ing years old." He went on to add, "We owe this to the fans... and we should give it to them because it would be an epic conclusion. So [Guillermo del Toro], if you're reading, I'm not done pounding you to get this f**king thing done."
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Perlman and del Toro more recently collaborated in last year's Nightmare Alley, which adapts the novel of the same name. Perlman stars in the film as Bruno, the good-hearted former strongman that Bradley Cooper's Stan Carlisle encounters while on the run.
Del Toro's franchise consisted of 2004's Hellboy, followed by 2008's Hellboy: The Golden Army, both written with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. Both films were positively received by critics, with the sequel going so far as to be nominated for an Academy Award. Since then, there have been discussions about a third Hellboy film. However, no official announcements were ever made. Perlman, del Toro and Mignola have consistently expressed a desire to return to the franchise, regardless of the 2019 reboot.
The reboot starred actor David Harbour as the titular superhero, taking on the Blood Queen Vivienne Nimue. The film grossed $55.1 million at the box office on a budget of $50 million. 2019's Hellboy was panned by most critics, who noted the sub-par special effects and a messy plot, which attempted to condense three novels into a single film-- a point Mignola made in a New York Comic Con panel.
Harbour later commented on the performance of Hellboy, highlighting production issues and comparisons to the Marvel Cinematic Universe films as factors that contributed to its poor reception. He explained, "I did what I could do and I feel proud of what I did, but ultimately I'm not in control of a lot of those things." He then added, "The problem that I have with comic book movies nowadays is that I think, and it's a result of the power of Marvel stuff, it's like chocolate, it's a flavor," said Harbour. "And I sort of want a world where there's more flavors than just comparisons to chocolate. So in that way when Hellboy is viewed on the chocolate spectrum, it does very poorly."
Source: The Independent