Doug Jones Explains Why Hellboy 3 With Ron Perlman Won't Happen

Doug Jones discusses why Hellboy 3, directed by Guillermo Del Toro, won’t happen at this point. Jones played the aquatic hero Abe Sapien in 2004’s Hellboy and 2008’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army. However, the conclusion to Del Toro’s fantasy trilogy never materialized.

Jones is currently in production on Get Me Doug Jones, a documentary about Doug’s remarkable career in film and TV. From McDonald’s Mac Tonight campaign to his roles in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Star Trek: Discovery, Jones is perhaps the greatest actor whose majority of roles have been under prosthetics.

Doug Jones and executive producer Derek Maki joined Virtual Trek Con’s The Main Viewer to discuss Get Me Doug Jones and its Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds required to complete the documentary. ScreenRant’s John Orquiola talked about the many iconic roles in Jones’ career, including Hellboy, and Doug delved into why the “ship may have sailed” on the long-hoped-for Hellboy 3. Read Jones’ quote below:

Doug Jones: “The Hellboy movies, we got to do one and two, but those were only four years apart. And talk to this day… the fans among that franchise are still like, ‘Are we gonna get a Hellboy 3?’ Well, the last one was 2008. It’s been a while. And there’s been some reboots in the meantime. That ship may have sailed by now. And Ron Perlman and I would probably be the oldest superhero team in history.”

Watch Doug Jones and Derek Maki on Virtual Trek Con’s The Main Viewer below:

As Doug Jones pointed out, it has now been 18 years since Hellboy II: The Golden Army hit theaters in 2008. Guillermo Del Toro’s dark superhero fantasies were ambitious and physically demanding shoots for the actors, especially Ron Perlman, who is now 76. The toll of Hellboy and Hellboy II took a lot out of Perlman then, including wearing Big Red’s prosthetics, and it’s now almost two decades later.

While Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy movies amassed a loyal following, neither movie was a blockbuster at the box office. 20 years ago, DVD sales for Hellboy were strong enough to green-light Hellboy II, but in the streaming era, that extra means of profit to recoup box office losses no longer exists. Hellboy 3 would have been even more expensive and visually spectacular to conclude Del Toro’s trilogy.

Instead of a third Del Toro Hellboy, the franchise was rebooted with a new film directed by Neil Marshall starring David Harbour as Big Red. Hellboy (2019) was a bomb with critics, fans, and at the box office, and Marshall even disowned his own movie. A sequel, 2024’s Hellboy: The Crooked Man, was little seen, and a far cry from the glory years of Hellboy starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, and Doug Jones.

Meanwhile, after Star Trek: Discovery wrapped in 2024, Doug Jones is enjoying a new phase of his career, acting without being encased head to toe in prosthetics. Jones played Saru for five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, but he now seeks out parts that let him be human, such as reprising Billy Butcherson in Disney+’s hit sequel, Hocus Pocus 2.

Get Me Doug Jones features new interviews with Doug’s fellow actors like Sonequa Martin-Green, Ron Perlman, Noah Wyle, and Bette Midler, as well as people from Jones’ personal life. Get Me Doug Jones‘ Kickstarter has incredible rewards from Doug’s personal archives of his film and TV work.

Of course, Doug Jones still meets fans who adore him for playing Abe Sapien in Hellboy, but, sadly, the conclusion to Guillermo Del Toro’s trilogy is now a “What If?”

Learn more about Get Me Doug Jones here.