In June, we brought you hope from Ron Perlman’s mouth about completing the Hellboy trilogy. At the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, both director Guillermo del Toro and actor Ron Perlman have voiced their optimism about returning to film a third installment of the Hellboy films.

In a panel discussion, Del Toro talked about the persistence it takes to make a movie:

“I carried Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark thirteen years. I carried Hellboy for almost eight years before it got made, so I’ll stick to [a project] until it gets made.

The reality is, each of those movies have been an incredible ordeal to make. [Hellboy] was an $89 million movie [but] I wound up making it for $50 million because nobody wanted a red guy.

The third one is the hardest one because it’s the darkest one and not necessarily has a happy ending. The third one is epic. It’s gigantic.”

[Above: GDT on set of Hellboy]

Perlman is perfect for the role of the “giant red ape,” as his firestarter love interest, Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), calls him. Del Toro adapted the films with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. After 2008’s Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Perlman had stated that he wouldn’t endure the make-up process to don the prosthetics for Hellboy again, but at SDCC, Perlman reaffirmed his interest in the role:

“There are things that are introduced in the first two films that have to be resolved in the third one. So for us to not make the third film would be kind of an injustice to [the fans].”

[The Shakedown]

I, for one, will be more than happily rejoicing for a third del Toro-Hellboy film. Del Toro’s imagination comes out so vividly through these Hellboy films and it is simply a visual delight to take in. Plus, Hellboy II sorta left us hanging – Red was about to be a proud papa of twins AND he’s destined to destroy the world!