We’ve got a new Pinhead! Jamie Clayton, recently seen in Sense8 and The L Word: Generation Q, has been announced as the iconic character in David Bruckner’s new adaptation of Hellraiser for Hulu. Author/director/general-Hellraiser-architect Clive Barker has also joined the project as a producer.
Spyglass Media Group and Hulu announced the rest of the cast, which includes Grand Army‘s Odessa A’zion, Brandon Flynn (late of 13 Reasons Why) Goran Visnjic (who played Tesla in the Doctor Who episode “Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror”), and Aoife Hinds, who was recently in Normal People.
For those unfamiliar with the Hellraiser universe: they began in 1986 with Clive Barker’s novella The Hellbound Heart, and gradually expanded into an extensive range of stories, films, and graphic novels. Most of them center on a human who comes in contact with the Cenobites—former humans who, through the exploration of extreme sensory experience, have evolved into creatures who don’t distinguish between pleasure and pain. Some people see them as angels, some as demons. The leader of the Cenobites was eventually named Pinhead (or the more dignified Hell Priest) and was played by the amazing Doug Bradley. One of the ways you can get in touch with them, if you choose to do so, is by solving The Lament Configuration with a puzzle box that grants you access to the Cenobite’s realm.
Clayton shared the news in a (frankly adorable) tweet featuring a cameo from one such box:
Demons to some. Angels to others. @hulu #Hellraiser https://t.co/Tvhuo7P7Vn pic.twitter.com/Fj228ZPugt
— Jamie Clayton (@MsJamieClayton) October 7, 2021
Spyglass Media Group is producing the reboot for Hulu. Director Bruckner, who recently helmed The Night House and The Ritual, is working with a script by his Night House screenwriters Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, working from a story by David Goyer. For his part, Goyer honored Clive Barker’s original work, saying, “From the moment I first read The Hellbound Heart, Clive Barker became one of my literary heroes. His work is transgressive and completely redefined the horror genre.”
Hellraiser has become an iconic horror franchise. The first adaptation of The Hellbound Heart was written for the screen and directed by Barker himself, and remains a gloriously over-the-top cinematic experience. The series continued with three more theatrically-released films, six that were released for the home market, graphic novels, and, of course, more Cenobite Halloween costumes than bear thinking about.
Head over to Deadline for more details on the cast and production, and keep working on your puzzle boxes while we wait for a release date!
