With the cult favorite horror movie franchiseHellraiserbeing rebooted, the search was on to find the actor who would play the central character of Pinhead. After several months of silence in regards to who would star in theHellraiserreboot, it appears Jamie Clayton has been chosen to portray the horror icon.
The firstHellraiserburst onto the horror movie scene back in 1987, where it quickly found a following thanks in large part to the personality that Pinhead displayed on the screen. With Clive Barker back as a producer onHulu’sHellraiserreboot after stepping away from the franchise, the famed writer and director is going in a bit of a new direction for the character in the upcoming film.
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While Pinhead was played by a male actor in all of theprevious iterations ofHellraiser,this time aroundThe L Word: Generation Qstar Clayton will take on the role. In what is being described as a “loyal, yet evolved reimagining” of the original film, per The Hollywood Reporter, it appears Spyglass is making a significant change to the main character. Also announced was Barker’s involvement as a producer, alongside Marc Toberoff, with the former joining theHellraiserreboot after a legal battle that concluded with him regaining the American rights to the franchise effective June 01, 2025.
In the original run of theHellraisermovies,Pinhead’s story changed a bitfrom one installment to the next, but the character was consistently a male and was almost always known as a former British soldier from World War II. As women weren’t allowed to fight in combat for Great Britain during that conflict, it stands to reason that the backstory for the main character of the reboot is going to have to be tweaked. As of now, there’s very little information about what that backstory might be in the new film.
There also isn’t word onhow the appearance of Pinheadin the newHellraisermight be changed with Clayton in the role. It’s not clear whether she’s playing a largely androgynous character, or whether it will be rather obvious that this will be a very new look for the horror movie villain.
Most of the details forHellraiserhave been kept under wraps during the film’s production. Filming just wrapped on the project earlier this month and this week, the production team announced the main cast, including Clayton as Pinhead. She’ll be starring alongside Odessa A’zion, Brandon Flynn, Goran Visnjic, Drew Starkey, and Adam Faison, among others. At the moment, Clayton is the only member of the cast whose character has been officially announced in the newHellraiser.
