A few weeks ago, the upcoming Hellboy reboot was hit with a wave of controversy when it was announced that Deadpool's Ed Skrein had been cast as Major Ben Daimio, a Japanese-American character in the comics. Following accusations of whitewashing, Skrein decided to drop out of the new Hellboy movie so that the character could be properly portrayed on the big screen. Now it's just been revealed that Hawaii 5-0's Daniel Dae Kim is in line to replace Skrein.
Daniel Dae Kim is currently in negotiations to join the Hellboy reboot as the new Major Ben Daimio, thus giving audiences a more faithful representation of the character. THR's report didn't indicate how far along these talks are, but if Kim ends up signing on the dotted line, he'll join a cast that includes David Harbour as the eponymous protagonist, Ian McShane as Trevor Bruttenholm, Milla Jovovich as Nimue the Blood Queen and Sasha Lane as Alice Monaghan.
After recurring on TV shows like Angel, 24 and Star Trek Enterprise, Daniel Dae Kim rose to prominence playing Jin-Soo Kwon on Lost over its six season run. Once the ABC series concluded, Kim made the jump to CBS and joined the Hawaii 5-0 reboot as Chin Ho Kelly. Kim was a series regular on Hawaii 5-0 over its first seven seasons, but he and fellow lead actor Grace Park departed the series this past summer over a salary dispute with CBS. In addition to potentially joining the Hellboy reboot, Kim is executive producing the upcoming ABC medical drama, The Good Doctor.
Before joining the B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) in the comics, Major Ben Daimio led a U.S. Marine squad that was sent on a rescue mission in the Bolivian jungle. During the operation, all of Daimio's fellow Marines were slaughtered by a mysterious entity, and after the left side of his face was scarred, Daimio was killed, too. However, he miraculously came back to life three days later and was eventually transferred to the B.P.R.D. Thanks to his unusual experience, Daimio later learned he could turn into a jaguar-like creature when under extreme stress.
After years of uncertainty over whether or not director Guillermo del Toro would get to make Hellboy III, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola announced back in May that the property would instead be rebooted over at Lionsgate. The Descent's Neil Marshall has inheriting directing duties, and the reboot is shooting for an R-rating. While it was originally reported that the new Hellboy movie would be called Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, it has since been confirmed that just like the 2004 movie starring Ron Perlman, it will simply be titled Hellboy.
The Hellboy reboot is expected to hit theaters sometime in 2018, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on its progress.
