Daniel Dae Kim in Negotiations to Join Hellboy Reboot

After the announcement by Lionsgate that Ed Skrein (Deadpool) was cast to play the Japanese-American character Major Ben Daimio in Neil Marshall’s (Westworld TV series) Hellboy franchise relaunch, Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, the studio was met with a social media backlash claiming “white-washing.” Skrein took the outrage to heart and backed out of the role himself saying that he didn’t want to “continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voice in the Arts.” Lionsgate backed Skrein’s move, saying that it was not the studio’s “intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity” and promising to “recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.”

It appears that Lionsgate is being true to its word, as THR reports that Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim (CBS’ Hawaii Five-0) is in negotiations to play the veteran military member of Hellboy’s (Stranger Things‘ David Harbour) surrogate family, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. In addition to being a badass warrior, Daimio is possessed by a mystical Jaguar spirit that grants him superhuman abilities.

Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen was written by Andrew Cosby (Eureka TV series), Christopher Golden (Ghosts of Albion) and creator Mike Mignola.