A new image from the upcoming Hellraiser reboot has offered Pinhead fans a better look at Jamie Clayton's radically different take on the popular horror character.
USA Today debuted the new image, which features a side profile of Clayton's Pinhead. The photo has also revealed that Clayton's Pinhead is devoid of the black leather ensemble that the character normally wore in the original Hellraiser films. The new image comes just under one week after fans received their first look at Clayton's Pinhead. The actor, best known for starring in Netflix's Sense8, was cast as the female incarnation of the Cenobite leader in Oct. 2021, taking over the role from Doug Bradley, who originally played the character in the 1987 horror classic and seven sequels.
The Hellraiser reboot was first announced in 2020 by Hulu and Spyglass Media Group and will serve as a reboot of the long-running horror franchise. The upcoming R-rated film will reportedly center on a young woman struggling with addiction who comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension. Clive Barker, who directed the original Hellraiser film and wrote its 1986 source novella "The Hellbound Heart," remains involved in the production as a producer.
A New Pinhead for a New Generation
While some fans have criticized Clayton's casting, believing she will be unable to live up to Bradley's iconic performance, both the film's director David Bruckner and Bradley himself have come to the actor's defense. Bruckner has stated that Clayton "fully embodies the role as Hell Priest" while Bradley has said that he is a fan of the actor. "It seemed like [a female Pinhead] was coming. It’s an interesting piece of casting," Bradley recently said. "I don’t know Jamie. Of course, they’ve taken even a little bit of a wrinkle in that, because Jamie is transgender. I’m not familiar with her recent work, but there was a science fiction series on Netflix several years ago called Sense8, which I was quite a fan of. Jamie was in that, and I really, really liked her performance in that."
In addition to Clayton, Hellraiser stars Selina Lo, Brandon Flynn, Hiam Abbass, Adam Faison, Goran Visnjic, Drew Starkey, Odessa A'zion and Aoife Hinds. Directed by Bruckner from a screenplay written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, the new Hellraiser reboot will premiere on Hulu on Oct. 7.
Source: USA Today