Ron Perlman Opens Up About HELLBOY 3 and Why It Never Happened
For years, fans have wondered how Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy was supposed to end. The first two films, Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), built toward something much bigger.
The mythology was deep, the stakes were massive, and the story clearly wasn’t finished. Yet instead of a third chapter from Guillermo del Toro, the franchise was eventually rebooted. Now Ron Perlman has finally laid out why Hellboy 3 never became reality.
Perlman, who defined the character across del Toro’s two films, recently talked about the abandoned sequel while appearing on The Joe Vulpis Podcast. When asked if Hellboy 3 was ever close to happening, his response was immediate and blunt.
“No.”
When pressed further, Perlman explained what actually stalled the project.
“People moved on.”
Host Joe Vulpis followed up, asking whether that meant audiences, studios, or production companies. Perlman clarified the situation even more directly.
“Some of the creatives.”
Despite the lack of momentum from the people who could make it happen, Perlman made it clear that his own interest never faded. In his view, finishing the trilogy wasn’t optional. It was something they owed to the audience.
“I wanted to do it. I thought we owed it to the fans. I still do. I’ll do it now at 75 years old, if the right person comes along and says, ‘Okay.’ Because it was meant to be a trilogy.
“At the end of the second one, she’s [Selma Blair’s character Liz Sherman] with twins, and he [Hellboy] still hasn’t destroyed the Earth or saved the Earth, which is his oracle. The third movie was gonna have all that in it. It was gonna be the resolve.”
That unresolved ending has haunted fans for nearly two decades. The Golden Army set up Hellboy’s destiny in clear terms, with Liz’s pregnancy and Hellboy’s looming role in either saving or ending the world. According to Perlman, the final chapter was designed to bring all of that to a head.
When asked whether an actual screenplay had ever been written, Perlman admitted he wasn’t sure a full script existed. What he did know was that del Toro had the movie mapped out in his head.
“I don’t know if there was ever a script, but I know Guillermo knew what it was gonna look like. It would have been epic. That’s why it was a shame.”
Instead of that epic conclusion, the franchise took a very different path. Neil Marshall’s 2019 reboot starred David Harbour as the character, followed by another reboot with Hellboy: The Crooked Man in 2024. Neither project continued the story del Toro and Perlman started, leaving the original arc permanently unfinished.
Perlman also pushed back on the idea that the films failed. While they didn’t hit the financial heights of superhero juggernauts, their legacy speaks for itself.
“Fans dug these movies,” he said, even if they didn’t make “Marvel money” or come with studio “mandates” for endless sequels.
Years later, del Toro’s Hellboy films are still widely praised for their world-building, practical effects, and emotional weight. For many fans, they remain some of the most respected superhero movies ever made. It’s a shame we never got to see the conclusion of the story.
That unfinished story still stings, especially knowing the ending was already waiting to be told.
