After years of hoping, fans are finally about to get a brand new Hellboy movie. Unfortunately, what many of those fans really wanted was a third installment of the franchise written and directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman in the title role. While any hopes that the trilogy might be completed have been dead for a while, it turns out Ron Perlman is still frustrated by the whole thing, mostly because he feels like he let down the fans. According to Perlman...
I felt like we owed the fans closure, and there were too many people moving in too many other directions and I just couldn't pull it off. So if you ask me about it, it's kind of still an open wound.
There was no more vocal proponent of making Hellboy III than Ron Perlman. He made no secret of the fact that he wanted to make the movie and was happy to say so any time he was asked, and several times when he wasn't. He clearly felt that it was a movie that should be made.
He tells Collider that the reason that he was so driven to make the movie was because he knew that Guillermo del Toro had a great idea for the story of the final film of the trilogy and Ron Perlman just wanted to see that vision realized.
While he's clearly upset that his Hellboy isn't the new movie being made, he holds no ill will toward those that are involved with the new project. He says he wishes everybody well, and he does sound sincere.
What's most interesting here is that the reason that Ron Perlman seems to be still so upset about the fact that Hellboy III didn't happen is that he blames himself. He says "he" couldn't make the third movie happen. While he certainly tried hard, and so it's understandable why he would be frustrated by the failure, the fact is Ron Perlman is the reason that the idea of a Hellboy III was ever entertained by anybody.
While there were certainly fans who loved Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy films, myself among them, they were the definition of cult classic. Those that loved them were passionate, but the group was small compared to the movie audience at large. Neither film was a major box office success, and at the end of the day, that has more to do with getting a sequel greenlit than anything else.
With the new Hellboy starring David Harbour on the way, the final nail is likely in the coffin of Hellboy III, although this is Hollywood, so any damn crazy thing could still happen. Next year we'll see if the reboot of the franchise, which has promised to be a darker version of the character, will resonate with more fans or it will be yet another cult classic for a different section of the audience.
