Jamie Clayton’s Pinhead is Here to Tear Your Soul Apart in New Hellraiser Photo

Hulu’s Hellraiser features Jamie Clayton as Pinhead and a new image provides another look at the character.

Hulu continues to tease the arrival of the next Hellraiser movie with an all-new image revealed of the new Hell Priest, aka Pinhead. As has been reported, Jamie Clayton stars as Pinhead in the film, following in the footsteps of original actor Doug Bradley. A trans actress, Clayton puts a more feminine spin on the popular character’s portrayal. There has been some division online with the casting, partly due to Bradley putting in such a memorable performance as Pinhead across a slew of movies. Others praise the move, saying it’s more in line with the original novella by Barker which described Hell Priest as androgynous.

In our latest look at Clayton’s Pinhead, shown above, the Cenobite can be seen from the side, giving us a look from another angle. This follows a previous photo released by Hulu, shown below, giving fans a straight shot of Pinhead’s face. Of course, giving the pins all over Clayton’s head, it’s very clear who it is we’re looking at, this being the new incarnation of Hell Priest. The differences in Clayton’s look compared to Bradley’s also add a fresh spin on Pinhead.

As for Bradley, you can count him being in Clayton’s corner. The horror legend was recently at Silver Scream Con and addressed the casting. Bradley said he “really, really liked” Clayton’s performance in the Netflix series Sense8, which makes him hopeful that she will do well with her take on Pinhead. As for the complaints about casting a female Pinhead, Bradley also says he likes to point out that he “did wear a skirt” when he played the character, and adds that Hellraiser has “always been transgressive.”

“We say ‘female Pinhead’ like we know what that means, but there are a million shades of femininity,” Bradley said. “Where exactly are they going to go with that? Everything about Hellraiser has always been transgressive. Everything, always, from start to finish. It’s not a new idea in that sense, but I’m intrigued. I’m in the same position as all the rest of you, I guess, to see where that goes.”

Stressing how the story will be more important than the casting, Bradley added, “The thing that will make the movie work or not is none of that. It’s the story. If the story is strong, the movie will work. That’s why Hellraiser has succeeded; not because the Cenobites are gloriously f***ed up and so is Julia, which they all are. All of those elements are magnificent in the film, and Chris Young’s score is one of the best ever written. All of that is true, but the story is what makes Hellraiser work, so we’ll see what happens.”

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