Hellboy: The Crooked Man Has ‘No Relation’ to the Other Movies, Will Be ‘Completely Different’

The latest live-action entry to the Hellboy franchise, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, will be “completely different” from previous iterations, according to director and co-writer Brian Taylor. 

Written by Christopher Golden and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Hellboy: The Crooked Man is the fourth live-action entry to the popular superhero horror franchise. Though there have been several iterations of Hellboy in the past, with Ron Perlman and David Harbour having previously played the titular half-demon, Taylor revealed during San Diego Comic-Con 2024 that his film would be different from the previous ones. 

“It’s completely different. We didn’t go into this referencing any of the other movies. We went into it referencing absolutely one thing, and that is the original Mike Mignola comic book. We wanted to take The Crooked Man and adapt it faithfully. That means it’s a period piece, it’s a younger Hellboy, and it has no relation to the other films,” the director told Collider.

He continued, “It’s sort of that much-loved by myself and other fans folk horror, almost procedural kind of Hellboy. He’s like a wandering nightstalker. He’ll just end up in your town for some reason, you’ve got a haunting, you’ve got some problems with dark forces, and he’s a plumber, and he’s gonna solve it for you. That’s the kind of Hellboy that we really like. My approach was to have an audience of one. If Mike Mignola feels like this is his Hellboy, then I feel like we succeeded.”

Who stars in Hellboy: The Crooked Man?

Jack Kesy takes on the mantle as the latest Hellboy (a.k.a. Anung Un Rama). He will be joined by Adeline Rudolph as Bobbie Jo Song, Jefferson White as Tom Ferrel, Leah McNamara as Effie Kolb, Joseph Marcell as Reverend Nathaniel Armstrong Watts, Hannah Margetson as Cora Fisher, and Martin Bassindale as Jeremiah Witkins.

Per the official synopsis, the upcoming feature will bring “a chilling tale of survival against the forces of darkness. Set in the 1950s, rookie BPRD agent Bobbie Jo Song finds herself in a dire situation when tasked with delivering a spider to the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. She must enlist the help of Hellboy to confront the malevolent Crooked Man, who has returned to Earth to harvest souls for the devil.”

No exact release date has been set yet for Hellboy: The Crooked Man, but it is expected to hit theaters later this year.