Fan enthusiasm for a third Hellboy movie from director Guillermo del Toro has ceased to wane in the years since the 2008 release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, but movement on the sequel has thus far failed to materialize. Del Toro has become a (deservingly) beloved director in the filmmaking community over the years, and he has proven adept at telling engrossing stories through his own unique eye, leading to some rather high-profile gigs. The director has finally been handed the reins to a giant studio tentpole with this summer’s Pacific Rim, and he’s already lined up a ghost story called Crimson Peak as his follow-up film. Nevertheless, the looming question of when/if Hellboy 3 will come to fruition remains.

Steve recently caught up with del Toro for an exclusive, extended interview at his house in anticipation of Friday’s release of Pacific Rim, and the filmmaker offered a rather disappointing update on Hellboy 3. Del Toro admitted that the sequel is unlikely to ever get made due to the vast number of things that need to converge at once in order to make it viable. The filmmaker also talked about why his story for Hellboy 3 can’t exist in comic form, the scale of the proposed follow-up, and more.

Del Toro has said for years that he already has the story for Hellboy 3 laid out, but Hellboy 2’s global box office take of $160 million against an $85 million budget wasn’t enough to warrant an even larger budget for a third film. While fans have continued to hold out hope, del Toro admitted that the likelihood of Hellboy 3 ever getting made is slim:

“It’s very unlikely it’ll happen because you need things to converge so strongly. [Producer] Larry Gordon, Universal, the rights, Ron [Perlman’s] and mine’s availability, [comic creator] Mike [Mingola’s] blessing; we have pieces of that, but we don’t have all of that. You need so many things to confluence and then you need about $150 million.”

Steve asked del Toro if we could see the storyline for Hellboy 3 play out in a different form, like a comics run, and the filmmaker said that he’s already considered that prospect but Hellboy comics creator Mike Mingola isn’t crazy about having del Toro’s iteration of the character exist in comic form:

“I talked to Mike about making it a comic and Mike said very clearly, ‘Hellboy the movies is yours, Hellboy the comics is mine; I don’t wanna confuse them.’ He has been very clear about not bringing any mythology we did in the movies into the comics, like Kroenen being a mechanical clockwork zombie Nazi, or The Samaritan, which is not called ‘The Samaritan’ in the comics, or Big Baby, or Abe Sapien being like the character he is in the movies, which is different. In the comics he’s a hard-ass, Abe Sapien is really a tough guy, and in the movie he’s like this sensitive, mind reading fish man. So [Mike] is very careful, no love story between Liz and Hellboy, so on and so forth.

Del Toro added that the scale of Hellboy 3 would make it a very different film from the first two, but noted that the “mass destruction” staple that is now found in most summer tentpoles would force him to up his game:

“The way Hellboy 1 and Hellboy 2 are very different from each other, Hellboy 3 is different enough from the other two that it wouldn’t feel like the same universe in scale. He does become the beast of the apocalypse. But seeing the apocalypse is getting more and more—the bar is raised higher and higher every year; mass destruction is becoming the sport of the summer.”

You can watch Steve’s interview with del Toro about Hellboy 3 below, which also includes the filmmaker talking about how his choice of projects comes more from opportunity than desire. The video interview is followed by a full transcript of the conversation. Watch for the full interview here on Collider soon.

Collider: Hellboy 3. It seems like a project that, honestly, might not ever happen. Is it something that you think still could happen, or is it something that the cards really have to come together?

GUILLERMO DEL TORO: It’s very unlikely it’ll happen because you need things to converge so strongly. [Producer] Larry Gordon, Universal, the rights, Ron [Perlman’s] and mine’s availability, [comic creator] Mike [Mingola’s] blessing; we have pieces of that, but we don’t have all of that. You need so many things to confluence and then you need about $150 million.

Is it time for people to start thinking, “How can we get the story of Hellboy 3 in another form?”

DEL TORO: Well I talked to Mike about making it a comic and Mike said very clearly, “Hellboy the movies is yours, Hellboy the comics is mine; I don’t wanna confuse them.” He has been very clear about not bringing any mythology we did in the movies into the comics, like Kroenen being a mechanical clockwork zombie Nazi, or The Samaritan, which is not called “The Samaritan” in the comics, or Big Baby, or Abe Sapien being like the character he is in the movies, which is different. In the comics he’s a hard-ass, Abe Sapien is really a tough guy, and in the movie he’s like this sensitive, mind reading fish man. So [Mike] is very careful, no love story between Liz and Hellboy, so on and so forth.

It’s funny, every time I see stories I’m thinking, “Man, people are just not understanding how much money it’s going to take to make a third Hellboy.

DEL TORO: Well it’s funny because any decision you make in a career seen from the outside, it seems like a puzzling act of will, like “Why did he do this and didn’t do that? Why did he choose this and didn’t choose that?” You literally wait for a door to open on one of the projects you love, and then you go and do it. If it was up to me, my second movie after Cronos wouldn’t have been Mimic, it would’ve been Devil’s Backbone. If I could after Devil’s Backbone, I would’ve done The Left Hand of Darkness, the Count of Monte Cristo Western I have. I would have done Mephisto’s Bridge, List of Seven. I have written about 20, 22, 23 screenplays, I’ve done 8 movies. So that means there are over a dozen screenplays that I haven’t made.

It sucks because you have the idea for Hellboy 3, you have the story, but at the same time you’re being given so many opportunities to tackle these amazing other properties, do you want to spend another 2, 3 years making Hellboy when you could make all these other things.

DEL TORO: The way Hellboy 1 and Hellboy 2 are very different from each other, Hellboy 3 is different enough from the other two that it wouldn’t feel like the same universe in scale. He does become the beast of the apocalypse. But seeing the apocalypse is getting more and more—the bar is raised higher and higher every year; mass destruction is becoming the sport of the summer.