Hellraiser director David Bruckner has revealed that original Pinhead performer Doug Bradley was offered a chance to cameo in the upcoming reboot of the long-running horror franchise.
"We reached out to Doug, we wanted to have him cameo in some way in the movie but, in the middle of a pandemic, I don't know, he also respectfully wanted to leave his legacy with the character and you can't argue with that," the director said in an interview with Jake's Takes. Unfortunately, Bruckner did not elaborate on the proposed cameo, so it is unknown whether Bradley would have appeared as a different Cennobite or as a human.
Bradley first portrayed Pinhead in Clive Barker’s classic 1987 film Hellraiser and returned as the horror icon for the first seven sequels. While some fans have voiced their disappointment at the upcoming reboot recasting Pinhead, Bradley has been nothing but supportive of Jamie Clayton taking over the role. "It seemed like [a female Pinhead] was coming. It’s an interesting piece of casting," Bradley said in Aug. 2022. "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."
Hellraiser is Loosely Tied to the Franchise's Canon
Announced in 2020 by Hulu and Spyglass Media Group, Hellraiser will 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. While the film was originally announced as a remake of Barker's original 1987 film, Bruckner has recently stated that the new Hellraiser is more of "a re-imagining" and that the film will fit "within the world of Hellraiser and what you've seen before in many ways." However, he explained that he "wouldn't say it's strict canon" and has suggested to fans that they "go into it not thinking exactly where it's fitting in the history of the series and to just experience the film."
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, Hellraiser will release on Hulu on Oct. 7.
Source: YouTube