Is The 2019 ‘Hellboy’ Movie A New Sequel Or Reboot?

A new “Hellboy” movie rises this Friday, and it’s bringing a whole new cast and crew with it.

This is the third live-action film based on the Dark Horse Comics character created by Mike Mignola. The first, also titled “Hellboy,” was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro and featured Ron Perlman as the titular character. It was released in 2004 and spawned a 2008 sequel, “Hellboy II: The Golden Army.”

Now, over a decade later, the 2019 film is getting ready to reintroduce fans to the half-demon with a rebooted story. Written by Andrew Cosby and directed by Neil Marshall, the new “Hellboy” stars David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) in the titular role.

The cast also includes Milla Jovovich (Nimue), Ian McShane (Professor Broom), Sasha Lane (Alice Monaghan), Penelope Mitchell (Ganeida) and Daniel Dae Kim (Major Ben Daimio).

“This action-packed story sees the legendary half-demon superhero called to the English countryside to battle a trio of rampaging giants,” the synopsis reveals of the new movie. “There he discovers The Blood Queen, Nimue, a resurrected ancient sorceress thirsting to avenge a past betrayal. Suddenly caught in a clash between the supernatural and the human, Hellboy is now hell-bent on stopping Nimue without triggering the end of the world.”

Originally, the film was going to be another sequel in the original franchise, but del Toro wasn’t signed on as the writer-director and Perlman wouldn’t return without him. When Marshall came aboard as the director and Harbour took over as Hellboy, it was decided the new movie would be a reboot instead of a sequel.

“I would've loved to see Guillermo do his third movie and finish that story. But over the years it became very clear that wasn't going to happen,” comic creator Mignola told Nerdist. “About three years ago the producers, the screenwriter Andrew Cosby, and I all started working on this new story. Del Toro didn’t want to have anything to do with it, he wasn’t going to direct. He was offered to be a producer, and Ron [Perlman] wouldn’t do it without Guillermo.”

He continued: “So we originally started trying to tie it to the del Toro universe and continue those movies. But once we had Neil Marshall, we thought, ‘Why are we going to try and continue that universe?’ Because a del Toro movie is a del Toro movie, and you don’t want to try and hand a del Toro movie to someone else. Especially someone as great as Neil Marshall. So that’s when it went from being this continuation to being a reboot.”

See the 2019 “Hellboy” reboot when it hits theaters on Friday.