Ron Perlman Reflects on Playing Hellboy, Responds to Latest Reboot (Exclusive)

Hollywood is getting more Hellboy. Reports emerged earlier this year that another reboot for Dark Horse Comics’ most iconic character was on the way, four years after David Harbour took on the mantle in a film that struggled to perform at the box office. That reboot proved to end up being Hellboy: The Crooked Man, with Deadpool 2 star Jack Kesy fulfilling the lead role. Regardless of where the character has been or where he will go, Hellboy will forever be associated with Ron Perlman, as the veteran actor portrayed the character in both a duo of live-action films as well as a couple of animated installments.

Speaking to ComicBook.com at the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts premiere, Perlman reflected on his time playing Anung Un Rama, praising director Guillermo del Toro for bringing the vision to life.

“I was very happy with the version that Guillermo and I involved ourselves with,” Perlman said. “I thought we killed it, we knocked it out of the park.”

When asked about his thoughts on the current status of Hellboy, Perlman said that the character’s future direction is not his place to say.

“What happens with the character and the franchise on the periphery of any of that is none of my business,” Perlman continued. “I prefer to just dwell in the feeling that I continue to have having played him and having played him for one of the great directors.”

As revealed by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola this past May, Hellboy: The Crooked Man has already wrapped filming.

“They’ve wrapped principal photography on the new HELLBOY movie. I wasn’t on set for this one but they have been nice enough to send me dailies and I have to say I have loved what I’ve been seeing,” Mignola wrote. “If fans have been waiting for a Hellboy film that is actually an adaptation of one of my stories I think they are finally going to get one. Congratulations to director Brian Taylor and a really wonderful cast – and to co-writer Chris Golden who did so much to figure out how to give the studio what they wanted and still keep true to the heart and soul of THE CROOKED MAN, my favorite of the Hellboy stories. I wish Richard Corben was still around to see this – They did a wonderful job bringing his really horrific character to life.”

Perlman can next be heard voicing Optimus Primal in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts when it hits theaters this Friday, June 9th.