Hellboy Creator Reveals His Involvement With The Franchise's Film Reboot

Hellboy fans were shocked when, earlier this year, creator Mike Mignola announced on his Facebook page that a new film was on the way, but fans have been wondering just how much involvement Mignola will have in the film itself. When speaking to The Verge about the project, Mignola explained he's taking a more hands-off approach this time around, as compared to the Guillermo del Toro films, but is still helping "steer" the film's direction.

The creator elaborated, "I'm a weird kind of co-executive producer. I'm not actually sure what my title is, but unlike the del Toro movies, where I was active in pre-production and design, I'm not doing that this time around."

He continued, "When the decision was made to do another movie, I got involved, basically saying, 'If you're going to do that story, don't do this, or that, change this, and that.' I helped to steer it."

Although he might not be having as active of a role going forward, he was clearly an integral component of this reboot happening in the first place.

"Christopher Golden and I did write a couple of drafts of the screenplay and got it on track, and then the decision was made to do a reboot," Mignola detailed. "I really just get questions about how things work, and while I'm not doing a lot, I've been talking with the creature-design guy and the makeup guy to get the look of Hellboy and his hand, and things like that."

Other than Mignola's involvement, another big difference with this reboot is it will be shot with an R rating in mind, of which the creator explained, "It'll lean in the horror direction, more so than the fantasy direction del Toro was doing. When [director] Neil [Marshall] came on, we decided to go for an R rating, so he doesn't have his hands tied, and so he can go as dark and as tough as he wants to go. I was a fan of his, and when he came onboard, I thought it was terrific: now it's really going to be an action-horror film."

Mike Mignola created Hellboy back in 1993. Hellboy is a demon who was summoned by Nazi scientists but recovered as a child by the Allies and then raised by the head of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Hellboy eventually became a member of the BPRD and investigated supernatural occurrences and fought monsters.

The first live-action Hellboy movie premiered in 2004. Hellboy II: The Golden Army followed in 2008. In addition to Ron Perlman, the films starred Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, John Hurt, and Doug Jones. There is no word yet on when Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen will hit theaters.

Hellboy's blend of vintage pulp action and mystery, folklore, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy has turned it into one of Dark Horse Comics' best-known publications, spawning several spin-offs such as a BPRD series, Lobster Johnson, and a prequel series titled Hellboy and the BPRD. Mignola recently killed Hellboy himself but continued to tell his story in the after in the pages of the 10-issue Hellboy in Hell series. The expanded "Mignola-verse" offers plenty of material for an expanded film and television universe.