It was quite a surprise when Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen was announced, complete with new star and director, after both Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman had campaigned to make a third movie. In the new reboot, Stranger Things' David Harbour will portray the titular character, and Dog Soldiers' Neil Marshall will direct.
It’s been revealed via social media that there’s no bad blood between del Toro/Perlman and Harbour/Marshall. Of course, it’s disappointing that we won’t have the opportunity to see the conclusion of del Toro's trilogy…
The most recent info about the Hellboy reboot may also surprise fans. During a recent interview with Nerdist, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola revealed that the original intention was that the reboot would continue del Toro's story! Mignola even spoke with the director about the project, but it wasn't meant to be:
Guillermo del Toro (FanPop)
I would've loved to see Guillermo do his third movie and finish that story. But over the years, it became very clear that wasn't going to happen. About three years ago, the producers, the screenwriter Andrew Cosby, and I all started working on this new story. Del Toro didn't want to have anything to do with it; he wasn't going to direct. He was offered to be a producer, and Ron [Perlman] wouldn't do it without Guillermo.
Mignola added that the initial plan was to have the story set in the same movie universe as the previous films, even though the cast and director were different. However, plans changed when Neil Marshall was brought into the fold:
So we originally started trying to tie it to the del Toro universe and continue those movies. But once we had Neil Marshall, we thought, “Why are we going to try and continue that universe?” Because a del Toro movie is a del Toro movie, and you don't want to try and hand a del Toro movie to someone else. Especially someone as great as Neil Marshall. So that's when it went from being this continuation to being a reboot. It's exciting to have another director. It's exciting to take another path, to take that material and give it another leaning.
Rise of the Blood Queen (IGN)
So there you have it. On one hand, we’re glad that del Toro kept to his vision and wanted to end the trilogy without telling additional Hellboy stories. On the other hand, we feel that this is a missed opportunity.
Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen will be released in 2018.
