Hellboy & Professor Broom Wage ‘Psychological Battle’ In Reboot

Sounds like the relationship between Hellboy and Professor Broom will be more strained in the forthcoming reboot. Fans of the Hellboy series were heartbroken at the start of 2017 when Guillermo del Toro confirmed Hellboy III would never happen. The much-hyped final chapter in his planned trilogy had been stuck in development hell for years, and the director was never able to secure the budget needed for his apocalyptic third movie.

A reboot starting David Harbour (Stranger Things) and directed by Neil Marshall was announced shortly after. Fans of del Toro’s version of the character were slow to come around to the new reboot, but Marshall’s R-rated take promises to be a fresh approach to the character, and an impressive cast has been lined up, including Milla Jovovich, Daniel Dae Kim and Ian McShane as Professor Broom.

Ian McShane discussed the Hellboy reboot in a new interview with Fandom and discussed how the relationship between Big Red and Broom is played in the new movie. Unlike the del Toro interpretation, it sounds like the two will be somewhat at odds in the movie, and Hellboy may have some trust issues.

You don’t start with the birth of Hellboy… but the relationship between [Hellboy and Broom] is quite crusty. Does he trust his father? [Hellboy asks], ‘Why didn’t you kill me? I’m a monster.’ It’s a little bit of a psychological battle against Hellboy. There’s one important moment in [the film] when [Hellboy] sort of thinks he’s fighting his own people, the outsiders. So, he’s being used by the insiders, which is me, if you like.”

McShane also touched on John Hurt’s take on the character, and how he wanted to pay tribute to his late friend with his performance.

McShane has had a packed schedule of genre work in recent years, having appeared in the new Hellboy, both John Wick movies, American Gods and his great one-off appearance in season six of Game Of Thrones. There seems to be a good chance McShane will appear in forthcoming John Wick TV spinoff The Continental too, where he’ll reprise his role as the hotel’s manager Winston.

While it’s disappointing del Toro didn’t get to round out his Hellboy trilogy, the new movie is shaping up nicely. Harbour is inspired casting for the title role, and Neil Marshall has shown with The Descent and his two Game Of Thrones episodes “Blackwater” and “The Watcher’s On The Wall” that he knows how to handle both creatures and action. Since the movie isn’t out until 2019 it may be a while before a trailer arrives, but hopefully, footage of Harbour in action will win over any doubts fans may have about the new Hellboy.