‘Hellboy’ Creator Reveals Reason For Reboot & Why One Scene In The New Film Made Him Say “Holy F-ck”

There’s still a lot of questions surrounding the upcoming reboot of “Hellboy.” First, there just isn’t a whole lot we know about the film. We know the cast and crew, but outside of a couple pictures, we’ve seen zero footage and have no idea how this film will separate itself from the comics and previous films. And secondly, a question that many film fans probably asked when they heard about the reboot — Why? Why does everyone involved feel that a reboot was necessary when Guillermo del Toro turned in two fun films in the franchise?

Hoping to answer that question is probably the only man that truly knows the answer, “Hellboy” creator Mike Mignola. Deadline spoke to the creator while at New York Comic-Con and asked him that very same question. Why start fresh and ditch all the del Toro goodness? Well, the answer is pretty simple — it was time for a new take.

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“We went back and forth on that,” Mignola said. “Early on there was some idea of continuing the storyline that del Toro had started but would that be fair to a new director? So, we decided to just start over. Neil [Marshall] is a horror director so the idea then was to a make a darker film. If you are going to use a guy, let him do what he does best. So, we went through the script taking out the del Toro-isms and in some ways go out of our way to make sure we are doing a different ‘Hellboy’ with its own distinct character [as a project] but still adhering to the comics.”

It’s interesting that Mignola says that Marshall is a horror director, which seems to paint del Toro as something other than a horror director. Sure, Guillermo del Toro is probably known more recently for his gothic dramas (“Crimson Peak” and “The Shape of Water”) and creature films, but don’t mistake that del Toro got his start doing horror and has a clear fondness for the genre.

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With that being said, the “Hellboy” creator explains just how different Marshall’s version of the character is from the previous director. “While del Toro did a more fanciful version of ‘Hellboy,’ Neil has done a darker, more horror version of ‘Hellboy.’ They both started with the source material but then they each have led it in very different directions,” he said.

And how did it turn out? That’s the big question and there’s really no answer yet, as the film isn’t expected to hit theaters until spring 2019. But if you want to take Mignola’s word on the film, then fans of the comic book series should be really excited.

The creator describes being on set and seeing just how close Marshall and Company got to recreating the comic book series that he has spearheaded for decades, “This is the first time I have been able to say honestly that I was on set and looking at something that looked like it jumped straight out of the comic. I never had that experience on any of the other stuff. There’s one scene in this movie where I was like, ‘Holy fuck,’ that’s pretty damn close — in the costumes and everything else — to a specific scene in the comics. That was a new experience.”

“Hellboy” hits theaters on April 12, 2019.