The upcomingHellboyreboot,Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, is moving right along. They’ve gotNeil Marshall(The Descent) directing withDavid Harbour(Stranger Things) taking over the lead role of paranormal investigator Hellboy. Lionsgate is handling distribution, and now the rest of the cast is starting to fill out.
According to THR,Ian McShaneis signing on to play Professor Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm.John Hurtpreviously played the role inGuillermo del Toro’sHellboyandHellboy II: The Golden Army. For those unfamiliar withHellboy, Broom is the leader of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) and a father figure to Hellboy after rescuing him in 1944.
PerTHR, “The new story sees the hero squaring off against a medieval sorceress who seeks to destroy humankind.” Since they’re going in a new direction and not doing an origin story, I’m wondering if they’ll want to keep Broom around as opposed to del Toro’s film, which loosely adapts the first trade paperback,Seed of Destruction. Additionally, it should be interesting to see if they bring in other major Hellboy characters Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, and others.
The production is eyeing a September start and will shoot in the U.K. and Bulgaria.
It will be interesting to see how Marshall’s reboot compares with del Toro’s movies. So far, I can’t really argue with the casting since both Harbour and McShane are talented, charismatic actors, and I’m eager to see how their takes on the characters compare to Ron Perlman and John Hurt.
There’s currently no release date yet forHellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, but if they start filming in September, the movie could conceivably be released in late 2018 or early 2019.
