Speaking at the world premiere of his latest film in London’s East End Film Festival, Hellboy star Ron Perlman told Red Carpet News how he really feels about the long hoped for final chapter in the franchise.

The big screen adaptation of Mike Mignola’s iconic comic series and its 2008 sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army was intended to set up a trilogy. However despite vocal enthusiasm from director Guillermo Del Toro and devoted fans, production on Hellboy 3 has been tragically stalled for many years.

Though critically well received and adored by fans, Hellboy II ‘underperformed’ at the box office, due in large part to opening alongside The Dark Knight. Unfortunately it evidently seems to have put Universal off gambling on a spectacular big budget conclusion to the series.

With last year’s release of Pacific Rim there was excited speculation that Legendary Pictures may have an interest in making Hellboy 3 if all the relevant rights issues could be resolved with Universal. But given that the studio hasn’t even sanctioned a Pacific Rim sequel yet, such hopes seem increasingly unlikely.

However, during a rare visit to the UK, big red himself Ron Perlman shared his continued and emphatic determination for making Hellboy 3 a reality. Here’s exactly what he had to say:

“I’d like to finish it. I’d like for there to be a third film because the first two films were set up for this huge resolve and he (Guillermo Del Toro) already understands what that resolve will look like. He never gave me the nuts and bolts of it, but he gave me a rather broad strokes sketch of what the third film would look like and it’s so epic and so deserved by the fans that hung in there for the first two that I really feel as though it’s essential that we make it. So I fight for it every day. Sometimes I’m the only voice and sometimes there are others, but I’m never going to stop trying to get Hellboy 3 made!”

Perlman’s inspiring enthusiasm for the project may help fans keep alive faint hopes of finally seeing Del Toro’s grand vision for the series become a reality.

Full Length 6 Minute Interview below: