Some will argue that Hellboy is Ron Perlman's best role ever, while others will know him best as Clay Morrow in Sons of Anarchy. This latest bit of casting news may top the lot, however, as Perlman has joined the cast of the Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them and word is, he's playing a goblin.
Wait, what?
THR got the exclusive on the news, stating that Ron Perlman has joined Warner Bros.' Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is currently in production in the U.K. THR's sources go on to say that the actor will play a goblin in the film.
Perlman wouldn't be the first goblin to be featured on screen in the Harry Potter cinematic universe. Warwick Davis played the goblin Griphook in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as well as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Goblins are known to be small magical beings, which makes Perlman seem like an odd choice to play one, given that he's not exactly lacking in the height department. But in other respects, this casting seems weirdly perfect.
Assuming Fantastic Beasts is taking a similar visual approach to goblins as Harry Potter did, we might expect a fair amount of special effects make-up, which is certainly familiar territory for Ron Perlman. See Hellboy and the 1987 TV series Beauty and the Beast for evidence of that.
Beyond the visual side of this role, goblins aren't exactly known for being friendly beings. Chalk it up to centuries of tension between them and the wizarding community, or perhaps it's just their nature. With that in mind, not only is it not difficult to picture Perlman as a (potentially surly) goblin, but I kind of need to see it now, so hopefully THR's information proves accurate. Is it too much to hope that he'll smoke a cigar?
It's no surprise that we don't have specifics on Ron Perlman's character, as the film has been cloaked in mystery, with only the occasional nugget of information released to keep Harry Potter fans' appetites satiated. We know that the story is set in the 1920s in New York City, and that Eddie Redmayne plays Newt Scamander, eventual author of the titular textbook. We know some character names and the growing cast of talented actors, but there's little else to go on. Apart, of course, from the reference guide of magical beasts on which this story is based.
Ron Perlman joins Jon Voight, Gemma Chan and Carmen Ejogo, among the recent cast additions of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. Also among the cast of the film are Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, Dan Fogler and Samantha Morton.
Directed by David Yates, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them arrives in theaters November 18, 2016.
