David Harbour on Succeeding Ron Perlman: 'I Would Not Be Doing "Hellboy" If It Wasn't for "Stranger Things"'
In early May, it was reported that a reboot of the Hellboy franchise was in the works, with Stranger Things star David Harbour in talks to succeed Ron Perlman in the role of the heroic, cigar-smoking demon. Yahoo spoke with Harbour and asked him about taking on the iconic role.
“I would not be doing Hellboy if it wasn’t for Stranger Things, no,” Harbour told us. “I would not. A lot of people responded to it. It’s got a lot of elements — Hopper is a very complicated character and has a lot of levels. And he is heroic, but he’s messed up, and I think they want this for this Hellboy as well.”
“[Hellboy] is very rich. I think the films did a certain thing, the comics do a certain thing. Hellboy is kind of a neurotic, messed-up individual who’s destined for a horrible fate. He’s destined to become the beast of the apocalypse. Whenever he shows up and does the right thing, people throw beers at him and show up with pitchforks and he still manages to do the right thing. I think it’s funny and it’s sweet and it’s weird, and hopefully I can bring that to it as well.”
Of course, the original Hellboy was quite vocal that he wanted a third installment. In an interview with Variety a year ago, Perlman said, “The Hellboy saga was meant to have a beginning, a middle and an end, and that, if you were loyal enough to us where you came and watched both those two movies that we made, we owe you a resolve.”
When the news broke that Harbour would be the man for the reboot, Perlman’s reported response was nothing short of gracious. “David Harbour is a good dude, man,” Perlman said at a panel at the Motor City Comic Con in May. “I have nothing but love for that dude. I wish him nothing but the best when it comes to the retooling of HB.”
Following those comments, a summit of Hellboys past and future was overseen by noted comic fan and fellow actor Patton Oswalt.
The summit dinner was a smashing success. Now, to launch my new pop duo, Hellboyz. @DavidKHarbour @perlmutations pic.twitter.com/nNkCycz2hD
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) June 6, 2017
“Patton brokered a peace; it was incredible,” Harbour said, joking about their dinner. “I had reached out to Ron because I’m a big fan of his. He’s a really sweet guy and we wanted to just talk shop, and I just thought Patton Oswalt would be the perfect chaperone in case Ron and I started to make out or we started dancing too close or if we started getting in a fistfight.”
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