While the franchise gears up for its second reboot, Mike Mignola has some disappointing thoughts on a potentialHellboy 3from Guillermo del Toro. The three-time Oscar winner was the first to adapt Mignola’s comic book character for the screen with the 2004 movie, which was a modest critical and commercial success, and its 2008 sequel,The Golden Army, which saw both a higher reception and box office haul. Despite del Toro and Ron Perlman’s prior interest in making a threequel,Hellboy 3was shelvedas the rights shifted elsewhere, and two reboots were made.
During a recent interview withScreen Rantfor the upcoming documentaryMike Mignola: Drawing Monsters, Mignola was asked about the chances of del Toro’sHellboy 3happening. The comic book creator bluntly indicatedthe threequel is unlikely to happen as they’ve both “moved on in different directions"with their careers:
Being able to look back now, I’m very happy about the time I spent with him. We had some adventures, and I just think we’ve both moved on in different directions. When you work on movies, especially if you’re on the movie set, there’s so much intensity day in, day out with these people — with the actors, with the director — and then when it’s over, it’s just over. It’s a very strange feeling [where] you just go, “I thought we were friends for life, but I’ll never actually see you again,” and, unfortunately, I think that’s kind of where del Toro and I are. He’s just on another planet. I’m very glad I got to know him and work with him back when working on a movie was five or six guys, and not the career he has now. But we still speak or email occasionally.
Mignola also goes on to reflect on his and del Toro’s creative differences while making 2008’sHellboy II: The Golden Army, while also reassuringthey are on good terms with one another nowand “certainly appreciate what the other guy is doing”. Again reflecting on the future, Mignola closes out by saying he’s “not a film guy” and prefers to “draw comics”:
In the documentary — and I’m very glad we did this — you do see our clash, and then there’s just enough in the documentary to say, “Yeah, but they don’t hate each other still.” I just think there was a period where we intersected, and then we both kept going in our own directions. I think we certainly appreciate what the other guy is doing. I do think [del Toro] appreciates that I didn’t cling to his heels and try to make a career in film. So many people in comics so desperately want to be working in film, and so many people [are] doing their own comics [as] a pitch for a TV show or a movie. I just love drawing comics. I remember [del Toro] asking, “What are you going to do now?” I went, “I’m going to go back and draw comics,” and I think he was relieved [by that] as opposed to [me saying], “I don’t know, what are you going to do next? What are we going to do next together?” It was a great experience working with him, but at the end of the day, I know what I do, and I’m not a film guy.
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Mignola’s comments aboutHellboy 3’s chances do seem pretty set in stone for the threequel coming to fruition. In both of del Toro’s previous movies, Mignola had some level of involvement in the development process, even having co-developed the story forThe Golden Armywith del Toro, who went on to write the script. Givendel Toro has also become busy in recent years with a number of passion projects, includingthe upcomingFrankensteinmovie, finding time in his schedule to makeHellboy 3also presents an issue for its chances.
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That being said, multiple cast members of the original movies have remained open to the prospect ofreturning forHellboy 3.Perlman has frequently expressed his desire to complete the original movie’s trilogy plans, even while acknowledging his age may be a difficult factor in reprising the titular character. Abe Sapien star Doug Jones has also confirmed his willingness to return to the franchise in the future, so long as del Toro, Perlman and Selma Blair were all confirmed to be onboard.
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While Perlman and Jones may remain hopeful to return, though, Mignola’s belief that del Toro’sHellboy 3won’t come to fruition seems the more likely outcome. Del Toro has been pretty candid in the past thathisHellboymovies were not seen as financial hits by Sony or Universal, which subsequently made acquiring funding for a third movie difficult. The writer/director even once had a deal in place with Legendary Pictures to fundHellboy 3ifPacific Rim: Uprisingwas a success, though this fell through after he departed the latter sequel.
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The other major hurdle facing the chances of del Toro’sHellboy 3is the fact that the franchise has shifted hands to Millennium Media and now been rebooted twice, withthe upcomingHellboy: The Crooked Manalso getting a deeper involvement from Mignola as he co-wrote the movie’s script. ShouldThe Crooked Manfail to connect with critics and audiences in the same way the 2019 reboot did, the franchise may ultimately have to go on hiatus for a while to determine the best path forward.
Hellboy
The “Hellboy” film franchise is based on the Dark Horse Comics character Hellboy, created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The films follow Hellboy, a demon raised by humans, who works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.) to protect humanity from supernatural threats. The franchise combines elements of horror, fantasy, and action.
