The famous Hellraiser actor, Doug Bradley has played the role of a classic Cenobite villain, Pinhead, for years. However, there is a new Pinhead in the 2022 reboot of Hulu’s Hellraiser. So, where is the iconic villain actor now? Why didn’t he reprise his role in the latest franchise?
What was the Hellraiser actor’s last project?
Bradley was recently seen in CW’s Gotham Knights series playing the role of Joe Chill. The character of Joe Chill is an essential character who is responsible for killing Bruce Wayne’s parents which leads to Wayne’s transformation into becoming Batman.
The series co-creators Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux, and Natalie Abrams revealed that Doug Bradley was their only choice for playing Joe Chill while speaking to Variety. They said-
“When casting the iconic role of Joe Chill, arguably the man who created Batman, there was only one name we considered – Doug Bradley. We needed an actor with the kind of gravitas that would do justice to such a seminal character in DC Comics canon. And who better to embody the role of the classic Gotham fiend than the man whose legendary portrayal of another classic fiend – Pinhead in the Hellraiser franchise — continues to terrify generations of horror fans?”
Bradley told a publication how he knew nothing about Gotham Knights yet the script got him ‘hooked’ to the character. He said-
“I didn’t know anything about ‘Gotham Knights’ other than it was the newest ‘Batman’ spin-off, so I thought, ‘I’ll just give my scenes a quick skim read,’ and then I was very quickly sitting on the bed reading all my scenes carefully. I was immediately hooked by both the story and the quality of the writing, so straight-away I thought, ‘Wow, I really want to do this.’ ”
Where is the Pinhead from Hellraiser now?
The 68-year-old is currently residing in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania with his wife Steph Sciullo. Bradley originally hails from Liverpool, UK but moved to Pittsburg in 2013 after meeting his wife. The English actor finds a lot of similarities between Pittsburg and his hometown Liverpool.
“Pittsburgh reminds me of Liverpool in a lot of ways. That industrial past that was lost equates in quite a lot of ways to the history of Liverpool. Both cities are finding a new identity for themselves. In both cities, the arts and music play a prominent part, and there’s a good, salty, hard-bitten attitude and edge about Pittsburgh, which also reminds me of Liverpool.”
Over the years, Bradley has kept himself busy with independent movie roles such as in The Barns 2 and The Trip. He has also done many voiceover acting including spoken word contributions for the English metal band known as Cradle of Filth. The Pinhead actor was part of the Hellraiser series for years until 2005. The franchise released its reboot version in 2022 with an all-new female Pinhead played by Jamie Clayton. Bradley shared his thoughts on Clayton’s portrayal of Pinhead via his Twitter handle.
I’m a bit blown away by this! The clever re-design of the make-up;the shimmer of the “pin heads”; the palette; whatever that keyhole/locket/tracheotomy thing is at the throat. It’s simple, subtle, disturbing and sexy. Everything it should be.
Peace and Pain, Doug
Clayton too shared her feelings about her portrayal of Pinhead in the Hellraiser series. The American actress was certainly anxious about playing such an iconic villain character and replacing Doug Bradley’s character.
“I mean Doug is iconic. No one can fill those gorgeous blood-soaked shoes, they’re too big to fill. So David and I just had many conversations about what this version would be, and what she would look like, and what she would sound like, and what her motivations were.”
