Hellboy III could very well be one of the most desired sequels in fan history. Director Guillermo del Toro brought Mike Mignola’s supernatural hero to the big screen back in 2004. However, it was the sequel that blew fans away. Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a fantasy-action blast. It’s one of the coolest blockbuster movies in recent memory. A lot of that has to do with its dedication to its oddball source material and the strength of the cast. The big thing that has had fans clamoring for a third film is the cliffhanger ending from Hellboy II. Hellboy and Liz Sherman are expecting some bundles of joy. Twins to be precise. But, an ominous warning from the Angel of Death seems to portend some bad times for the happy couple and their offspring.
Del Toro has kept fanning the fires of a sequel for nearly ten years. Recently, del Toro took to Twitter to see if fans were still interested in closing out this potential trilogy. He posted a poll to see if he could get over 100,000 votes to initiate a sit-down between himself, Mignola, and Ron Perlman who played Hellboy.
Informal poll (let’s see how many votes we get in 24 hours)
Hellboy III— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 18, 2017
It’s great to see that del Toro keeps his fans in mind and hasn’t forgotten about this project. At this point, is it something that could actually happen? Speaking as someone who adores the world of Hellboy, I’ll keep believing it could be real until proven otherwise. Ron Perlman has stated that he is too old to play the character again. The process of becoming Hellboy requires intensive makeup, prosthetic, and costuming work that might be too much for the sixty-six-year-old thespian. Plus, the time between the second and potential third movie has become so vast that general audiences probably wouldn’t be interested. Fans would show up but it takes a larger audience to make a blockbuster successful. Not to mention that a Hellboy movie is never cheap. Those things cost some serious coin.
What Hellboy III Could Be
It’s not like del Toro has kept quiet about his ideas for a third movie. He always said that the third film would involve Hellboy becoming the Beast of the Apocalypse that he was always destined to become. Ironically, this transformation would be necessary for him to defeat an even greater enemy. And those twins? One would be angelic and the other demonic. Naturally, del Toro wanted the angelic one to be villainous.
Del Toro tried to get the movie made and shopped it around but the budget was too much. Admittedly, an apocalyptic finale should be bigger and badder than any of the previous films. But, even though Hellboy and its sequel did very well on home video, their box office returns were definitely lacking. And a studio doesn’t want to take a risk like that.
Del Toro Speaks
We reached out to del Toro and this is what he had to say about the potential of a Hellboy III:
“Ron has been after me again and again. Mike has been mum about the matter for awhile – but Ron pushed and said to me how moved he was about the number of people that wanted it. I also get asked about Hellboy III more than almost anything. So I thought a gesture would be great – get something to gauge the reality of a fan interest. So, out of mad passion I just Tweeted my usual poll (I have done others about ‘Art of’ books or toy lines to learn what fans want) and the response was incredibly moving and massive. So, now it’s my duty to reapproach Ron and Mike and see if they want to sit down and talk…”
Even if nothing comes of this, it’s encouraging and heartwarming that del Toro has maintained a loving connection to this property and its fanbase. His sense of responsibility to Hellboy shows that he really does care about what the fans want. Hopefully, we’ll see Hellboy on the big screen again in some way. The characters, world, designs and adventurous tone are too good to leave sitting on the shelf. Regardless, this is just another excuse to rewatch Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Man, that movie rocks.
