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Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen accused of white-washing with casting of Ed Skrein

Skrein… is gearing up for a role in the Hellboy reboot, but it’s not without controversy – Credit: Fox
Skrein… is gearing up for a role in the Hellboy reboot, but it’s not without controversy – Credit: Fox

The soon-to-be rebooted ‘Hellboy’ has only just been properly announced, but it is already running headlong into white-washing furore.

It’s been confirmed that British actor (and rapper) Ed Skrein – he was the villain Ajax in ‘Deadpool’ – is in final talks to play Captain Ben Daimo in the new movie, ‘Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen’.

If all goes to plan, he’ll be joining ‘Stranger Things’ star David Harbour as Hellboy on the cast, and Milla Jovovich as the movie’s villain the Blood Queen.

Daimo works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense in Mike Mignola’s comic book series, as well as being a mystical creature himself – a were-jaguar.

But more key is the fact that Daimo is Japanese-American in the comics, and Skrein is, well, not.

And because the comics have a wealth of online fans, it’s not gone unnoticed.

It follows previous furores over movies like ‘Ghost In The Shell’ and ‘Doctor Strange’, which cast Scarlett Johansson and Tilda Swinton respectively in roles that were of Asian origin in the comics.

‘Hellboy’ returns to the screen after a period of limbo, in which original director Guillermo Del Toro and original Hellboy Ron Perlman have exited, with Harbour now in the lead role and British ‘Westworld’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ director Neil Marshall behind the camera.

Ian McShane is also on the bill, taking over the role of Professor Broom from the late John Hurt.

It’s due out next year.

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