The Hellboy reboot just lost a cast member amid a whitewashing controversy, but the studio’s carrying on with the casting process. Penelope Mitchell (series regular Letha Godfrey in Netflix’s Hemlock Grove) is the latest to join the movie.
According to Deadline, the Aussie actress will portray the comic book witch Ganeida in the Hellboy reboot. The movie version of the character is described as "an elder witch who has decided that Nimue's wrath has gone on for too long and must be stopped".
In addition to her role in the Netflix series, Mitchell plays the recurring character Liv Parker in The Vampire Diaries on The CW. She’s also appeared in big-screen ventures that include Zipper, The Curse of Downers Grove, and Curve. And she’s set to star in the upcoming movies Between Worlds and Look Away.
The 26-year-old actress joins a cast roster that already includes David Harbour as the well-meaning titular demon; Ian McShane as his adoptive father, Professor Trevor Broom; Sasha Lane as his love interest, Alice Monaghan; and Milla Jovovich as his adversary, Nimue the Blood Queen.
A week or so ago, the Hellboy reboot had cast Ed Skrein as the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense’s Major Ben Daimio, but the Deadpool star eventually withdrew from the part after several complaints of whitewashing surfaced. The character is of mixed Asian heritage in the comic books, so the producers have since promised to recast the role with "an actor more consistent with the character in the source material".
Neil Marshall will direct the upcoming R-rated flick based on a script penned by Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola, and Aron Coleite. It doesn't have a release date yet, but will reportedly arrive in theaters sometime in 2018. Filming is expected to begin in September.
