Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman are "trying" to make Hellboy 3.

The Mexican-born director and the 62-year-old actor –  who has played the comic book character in the first two movies in the franchise –  are keen to return to the studio to create a sequel to 2008 movie Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

Guillermo said: "I can say publicly that now we are together in trying to do Hellboy 3."

Ron admits it would be a "shame" he cannot reprise his role as the character in Hellboy 3 because the first two films in the franchise have been set up for a third motion picture.

He said: "The first two movies were really set up to have this unbelievable resolve. Everything that was done in both movies was leading up to this destiny, written in stone, of what Hellboy has been summoned to Earth to do.

"To not do it, particularly in light of the scope that Guillermo is thinking of for the resolve, would be in my mind a little bit of a shame."

The franchise is based on the Hellboy comic books, which tell the story of the character, a red-skinned demon with a tail, horns â?? which have been filed off, leaving stumps â?? cloven hooves and a huge right hand made of stone.

Guillermo and Ron's latest work sees them team up on 2013 sci-fi film Pacific Rim, which sees humans deploy giant robots to take on an alien attack threatening Earth's existence.