| Advertisement |
Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Asian-American actor Daniel Dae Kim may replace Ed Skrein in the forthcoming Hellboy reboot. The 49-year-old Hawaii Five-0 alum is in talks for the film following Skrein's exit amid a whitewashing controversy, according to Variety.
Advertisement
Kim, who is of Korean heritage, would play Major Ben Daimio, a Japanese-American character, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Skrein, who is white, voluntarily stepped down from the role in August.
"I accepted the role unaware that the character in the original comics was of mixed Asian heritage," the 34-year-old British actor said. "There has been intense conversation and understandable upset since that announcement, and I must do what I feel is right."
"It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the Arts. I feel is is important to honor and respect that," he explained.
The new Hellboy is a reboot of the Hellboy movies starring Ron Perlman, which were based on the comics by Mike Mignola. David Harbour will play Hellboy in the reboot, with Ian McShane and Milla Jovovich as co-stars.
Kim and his co-star Grace Park left Hawaii Five-0 in June after seven seasons with the CBS series. The actor said he "made the difficult choice not to continue" after he was unable to agree on new contract terms with the network.
