Doug Jones, who played Abe Sapien, recently offered some advice to whoever may be the next actor to play the comic book character. Jones appeared alongside Ron Perlman in Guillermo Del Toro's 2004 adaptation of Mike Mignola’s comic
Hellboy, as well as its less successful sequel,
Hellboy II: The Golden Army. With a third Hellboy film from Del Toro being
"100%" dead in the water; a reboot was announced and shot last year starring
Stranger Things' David Harbour in the lead role.
In an interview with
Screen Rant to promote the home release of the Academy Award-winning
The Shape of Water, Jones spoke about the upcoming
Hellboy reboot, praising Harbour and revealing that Abe Sapien may not appear in Marshall’s film.
Here's what the actor said:
I’m told that Abe Sapien doesn’t really show up in this first reboot movie, so for a minute here I’m kind of – I’m OK with the fact that I don’t have to watch somebody else do that role just yet. I’d love to see the first and how they set up now with David Harbour, who is a brilliant actor and sweetheart of a guy. We met at Comic-Con last year and we hugged it out – really nice to make that Hellboy connection with him.
Though Abe is one of
Hellboy’s most famous partners in the comics (and in del Toro’s film); the character hasn’t officially been cast in the reboot. That doesn’t necessarily mean Abe won’t appear, but Jones undoubtedly skirts the line between confirming whether or not the character shows up.
Jones went on to offer advice to the next actor to play the character, imploring them to respect the comics.
If and when Abe Sapien does enter the storyline in subsequent movies, I honestly would not have any advice for anyone besides have patience with the make-up, but otherwise make the character your own. And, also, anytime you take on a comic book character you must know your source material. The fans depend on it, the fans will want to ask you about it. It’s an injustice to the fans of the source material if you don’t know it going in. And it will help inspire you performance on film if you know the comic books that you’re coming from.
Whether Abe Sapien joins the new
Hellboy film, or appears in a potential sequel, remains to be seen - but fans of del Toro’s movie and Jones’ performance will no doubt compare a new actor to the character’s previous portrayer. Thankfully, Jones has some good advice for that actor, whoever they may be.
What do you think about Jones' comments? Would you like to see another actor take on the role in the reboot?