Neil Marshall’s Hellboy movie has found new members of the Osiris Club in Sophie Okonedo, Alistair Petrie, and Brian Gleeson. Hellboy will serve as a reboot of Guillermo del Toro’s movie franchise based on the Dark Horse comics of the same name. The project drew immediate ire from fans of del Toro’s films, who were ever-hopeful that the beleaguered third movie in a planned trilogy would one day materialize. Despite Hellboy creator Mike Mignola’s indication that the original intention was to tie the reboot into Del Toro’s movies, this new project will be going in entirely different direction - with Stranger Things actor David Harbour starring as the titular Right Hand of Doom.

Although the project has now dropped its original subtitle Rise of the Blood Queen, Harbour is still set to face off against Mila Jovovich (Resident Evil) as the sinister Blood Queen. Additional story information for the Hellboy reboot has since been released, painting a broader picture of the characters fans can expect to see line-up alongside (and against) Big Red, from Abe Sapien to Merlin.

Deadline is reporting that at least one of these aforementioned roles has been filled by Brendan Gleeson’s other talented son, Brian Gleeson. He will be playing Merlin, the medieval wizard and member of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.R.P.D). Sophie Okonedo and Alistair Petrie have also joined the cast as high-ranking members of the Osiris Club. They will be respectively playing Lady Hatton, a seer, and Lord Adam Glaren.

Brian Gleeson is known for having starred in Tiger Raid and recently appeared in Darren Aronofsky’s controversial mother!. Oscar-nominee Okonedo, for her own part, has worked on TV series like The Hollow Crown and Doctor Who over the years. Meanwhile, Petrie has kept busy appearing in Hollywood blockbusters (Rogue One) and hit TV dramas (The Night Manager) alike.

The Hellboy reboot promises to be a darker, more gruesome horror film than del Toro’s efforts and the movie’s planned R-rating has fans of Mike Mignola’s grizzly franchise excited. Original Hellboy actor Ron Perlman has offered a show of good will to the project, wishing Harbour the best of luck. While Del Toro has followed suit in that respect, the project courted controversy once again with the divisive casting of white actor Ed Skrein as Japanese character Major Ben Daimo. Ultimately, however, Skrein stepped down from the film and was replaced with Daniel Dae Kim, who later thanked Skrein for his actions.

This reboot appears to be giving fans exactly what they want, including the blessing of the previous helmers of the Hellboy franchise. Gleeson, Okonedo, and Petrie are subsequently joining the project during its most positive time. While the eccentric characters of Mike Mignola’s fantastic comic book universe will be supporting the onscreen action, fans should not expect their involvement to be too heavy. Mignola has stressed that the primary focus of the reboot is Hellboy himself, but the introduction of far-flung magical characters could lay the groundwork for an eventual Hellboy cinematic universe.

Source: Deadline

  • Hellboy Release Date: 2019-04-12