Hellboy Producer Says Guillermo del Toro Didn't Want To Return For a Sequel

Next month, Hellboy will return to cinemas for the first time in over a decade. Guillermo del Toro helmed the first two Hellboy movies, but the second film had the misfortune of opening a week before The Dark Knight. After Hellboy 2: The Golden Army had a respectable opening weekend, Christopher Nolan’s second Batman movie took the wind out of its sails. That left del Toro and company without an opportunity to finish the trilogy of films they had set up. But according to Hellboy producer Lloyd Levin, it was ultimately del Toro’s decision to pass on Hellboy 3.

While speaking to Collider, Levin said “For years, the second one came out in [2008], and during that time the idea of a third would’ve been very very exciting. It was up to Guillermo and he ultimately decided that this was behind him. He was onto other things. So we were able to get a hold of the rights.”

“A third without Guillermo was unthinkable and without Ron [Perlman] was unthinkable,” continued Levin. “So you have over 20 years worth of stories and dozens of characters and it just felt like there was so much more of the Hellboy, Mignola-verse to explore. So we talked about it and faced with no opportunity to do a third, the only opportunity was to reboot.”

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Neil Marshall (Game of Thrones) was chosen to be the director of the new Hellboy movie, which may be closer in tone to Mike Mignola’s comics. David Harbour is taking over the title role from Ron Perlman. Ian McShane co-stars as Hellboy’s adoptive father, Trevor Bruttenholm. Ex-Lost star Daniel Dae Kim is playing Ben Daimio, with Sasha Lane as Alice Monaghan. Milla Jovovich is playing Nimue, the Blood Queen, the primary villain of the film.

Hellboy will hit theaters on April 12, which puts it between Shazam! and Avengers: Endgame. That release date could prove to be problematic, considering the competition. Hopefully Hellboy can hold his own this time.

Do you think del Toro should have returned for Hellboy 3? Are you excited about the Hellboy reboot? Let us know in the comment section below!