Ed Skrein is on board to star in the ‘Hellboy’ reboot.
The 34-year-old British actor is joining the Neil Marshall reboot playing Major Ben Daimo, a consultant to the titular character at the Bureau for Paranormal Research, the Hollywood Reporter say.
The casting of the ‘Deadpool’ star could face criticism from fans of the comic books, as the character is portrayed as Japanese-American.
The plot in the new movie follows Hellboy as he battles with a medieval evil wizard who is hell-bent on destroying humankind.
David Harbour has already been cast as Hellboy and will be joined by Milla Jovovich, 41, as the Blood Queen and Ian McShane, 74, as Professor Broom, the scientist who adopts the titular demon child, in the Marshall-helmed movie.
The part of Professor Broom was originally brought to life by the late John Hurt in the Ron Perlman starring-movies ‘Hellboy’ and ‘Hellboy 2: The Golden Army’.
The film is expected to start shooting this September.
The upcoming project has been in the pipeline for some time, but the reboot is set to happen without original director Guillermo del Toro, who couldn’t agree with the studio’s vision for the movie.
Instead, Marshall – who worked on the likes of ‘The Descent’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ – is taking charge of the film.
Aron Coleite is working on the latest draft of a script by Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden and ‘Hellboy’ creator Mike Mignola.
Originally titled as ‘Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen’, it was previously reported that the reboot will simply go by the name of ‘Hellboy’.
Unlike the original franchise by del Toro – which was PG13 – this film will be R-rated, following in the footsteps of other successful R-rated movies including ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Logan’.