Is Guillermo del Toro's third Hellboy movie still possible?

The most recent Hellboy project is Brian Taylor's adaptation of Hellboy: The Crooked Man, making it the third live action Hellboy audiences will see since Ron Perlman brought the Right Hand of Doom back in the first Guillermo Del Toro film. He returned for a second outing before the decision was made to reboot the franchise.

Those del Toro films have become beloved amongst fans of the original comic and regular moviegoers alike, with the end of the second film teasing the things to come for the characters. Sadly, it's been almost fifteen years since that last film, and during that time the character of Hellboy has been rebooted twice, first with the critically panned 2019 simply titled Hellboy starring David Harbour, and now The Crooked Man adaptation with Jack Kesy the newest actor to take the mantle of Hellboy. In spite of all the reboots and restarts, fans have been clamoring for a third del Toro Hellboy film for years, but is there hope for these creative forces to reunite once again?

Mike Mignola comments on Hellboy 3's likelihood

Could Hellboy 3 ever happen? The answer to that question is a complex one. In a recent interview with Screen Rant, the creator of Hellboy himself, Mike Mignola, commented on the franchise's future, and unfortunately it doesn't sound like that move is on the cards for either him or director Guillermo del Toro.

""Being able to look back now, I'm very happy about the time I spent with him. We had some adventures, and I just think we've both moved on in different directions. When you work on movies... there's so much intensity day in, day out with these people — with the actors, with the director — and then when it's over, it's just over. It's a very strange feeling [where] you just go, “I thought we were friends for life, but I’ll never actually see you again,” and, unfortunately, I think that's kind of where del Toro and I are." "

Mignola did point out that he and the director "still speak or email occasionally" and that he's "so glad" he "got to know him and work with him". He also noted that he said he just wanted to "draw comics," after being asked by del Toro what he wanted to do after the making of the films, and that he wasn't a "film guy."

The article never got recent word from del Toro himself regarding the future of his franchise, but two of the main cast from those original films have made their opinions known on the future third film. Both Ron Perlman (who played Hellboy) and Doug Jones (who played Abe Sapien) expressed much enthusiasm in wanting there to be another Hellboy movie with them a part of it, with Jones only willing to return if del Toro directs, and Perlman and Selma Blair (who played Liz Sherman) return as well.

How Hellboy II ended

During the last act of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, during the search to heal Hellboy after being wounded, they find the Angel of Death, claiming to see the future and prophesing that Hellboy would bring about the end of the world, but Liz didn't care and wanted the Angel to heal him, which it did.

After the defeat of Prince Nuada, Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and Liz Sherman quit from the B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) and set out to live their lives in peace away from chasing monsters and madmen on a daily basis. Hellboy not only found out that Liz is pregnant with his child, but that she would be having twins.

So, yes, the movie wrapped up its own storyline, but there is plenty of scope for a third movie. And now that it has been so long, it could very well function as a legacy sequel if it were to happen.

How could the story continue?

There are many ways to tell the story of Hellboy 3 even if it the film itself doesn't happen, but this writer believes the best way is through one realm: Animation.

Ron Perlman himself has said that he's become too old to don the Right Hand of Doom in a physical sense, as was explained by him in a video with Collider Podcasts back in 2019. So, animation could prove the best way to make the third film work. While animation in itself can be a long and expensive process, such as the case with the next Spider-Verse film, there's still potential for an animated del Toro Hellboy movie

However, the Hellboy franchise has delved into the realm of animation before, and it happened to have the three live action actors of Perlman, Jones, and Blair voicing the same characters. That's right, after the release of the first del Toro film and before the second one came out, the three live action Hellboy actors starred in animated films that were produced by del Toro and Mignola as well. There were two films, one called Hellboy: The Sword of Storms and Hellboy: Blood and Iron, and while they had the same core cast as the live action films of the time, the stories were written and directed by different people, and they didn't share the same continuity as the live action del Toro films.

The two animated Hellboy films were, in this writer's opinion, slightly inferior to the live action del Toro films, but they are very entertaining and engrossing in their own way, especially with Hellboy: Blood and Iron, which dealt with vampires and a lot more gothic horror that the franchise is known for.

If del Toro were to make the next Hellboy film animated, there's a wide variety of ways that he could make it stand out from not just superhero animated films, but animated films in general. He could take a page from his time working on his Pinnochio, which used stop motion techniques, on certain parts of the film and combine it with other styles to make it a feast for the eyes.

The chances of a third del Toro Hellboy film ever happening may seem slim, and fans probably shouldn't hold out hope for it, but this article proves that at least one person out there still has hope for this film, and won't stop wondering and theorizing about what could have been (and what could be) until his dying day.

What do you think? Is there hope for a third del Toro Hellboy film? What other ways could this story be released besides through animation?