It’s been five years since Ron Perlman last painted himself bright red to play Hellboy on the big screen, but both Perlman and director Guillermo del Toro are now suggesting that the time may be finally right for a third installment of the supernatural comic book adaptation.
Perlman makes an appearance in del Toro’s upcoming Giant Monsters vs. Giant Machines flick Pacific Rim, and during a promotional appearance for the movie, the director teased the possibility of a third Hellboy to the blog Shock Till You Drop. According to the site’s Ryan Turek, del Toro told him, “Last night, we were at dinner and Ron said, ‘I would be very happy to do Hellboy again. When are we doing Hellboy 3?’ Thomas [Tull, founder of Legendary Entertainment] said, ‘I would love to see Hellboy 3.’ He didn’t say he would love to do it; he just said he’d like to see it, but today I’ll ask him.”
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Later, Perlman told Turek that del Toro’s joy during the filming of Pacific Rim was what put the idea in his head. “I loved working for Legendary, and I know for Guillermo working on Pacific Rim was one of his greatest experiences,” he explained. “The reason I loved working for them is because Guillermo was so happy. I came in six months into the shoot and he seemed as fresh as a daisy, simply because he was working for someone who appreciated and supported his outlandish visions of what he wanted to put on the screen. My immediate silent wish was, wouldn’t it be great if these guys came in and helped resolve the Hellboy series.”
This isn’t the first time the two have hinted at the possibility of a third movie. Last year, del Toro revealed that the two were trying to get the movie made, with Perlman adding, “Everything that was done in both movies was leading up to this destiny, written in stone, of what Hellboy has been summoned to Earth to do. To not do it, particularly in light of the scope that Guillermo is thinking of for the resolve, would be in my mind a little bit of a shame.”
Somewhere comic creator Mike Mignola, who came up with Hellboy twenty years ago this year, would likely wish to invite fans of the movies to sample what he’s been up to in the last few years — particularly the Darkness Calls/The Wild Hunt/The Storm and The Fury trilogy, which delivers his version of the character facing his destiny. Just in case del Toro and Perlman never quite get it together, of course.
