After years of portraying the heroic Alice in the Resident Evil franchise, Milla Jovovich will finally take a turn toward the dark side for Hellboy (formerly titled Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen). Deadline reports that the actress is in final negotiations to join the franchise reboot as the film’s villain, the Blood Queen.
The film marks Jovovich’s first major franchise role since the long-running Resident Evil franchise churned out its last installment earlier this year. Beyond parts in Rob Reiner’s Shock and Awe and James Franco and Bruce Thierry Cheung’s Future World, many had been speculating where the actress would pop up next.
In the comics, the Queen of Blood goes by several names, including Nimue and the Lady of the Lake, and is one of Hellboy’s fiercest archenemies. The British witch gained her knowledge of sorcery from Merlin, who she eventually betrayed, and is hellbent on wiping out humanity.
Following Guillermo del Toro’s critically acclaimed films in 2004 and 2008, Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, respectively, the reboot will see The Descent director Neil Marshall sharing his vision of the Mike Mignola comics. Now that his work on the pilot episode for Netflix’s Lost in Space remake is mostly finished, his focus will turn toward the upcoming film adaptation.
The most recent draft of the film is being handled by Aron Coleite, who is working on Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden and Mignola’s script. David Habour (Stranger Things) has already signed on to the play the titular half-demon, while Ian McShane (American Gods) will take on the role of Professor Broom. Filming is expected to get underway later this year.