It is usually to humankind’s advantage that the flame of hope is not easily extinguished. When the pursuit of a lofty ideal grows difficult, the unshakable bedrock of hope has provided the righteous with strength and fortitude. But hope can also be a heartbreaker, constantly teasing us with the faint chance of achieving an impossible dream. Up until today, fans were able to cling to the possibility of a third installment of Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy franchise, however remote. But the director took to Twitter earlier today to deliver the sad news that we may now finally abandon hope — it ain’t happening.

Star Ron Perlman officially gave up the ghost back in October, conceding that a third Hellboy movie simply wasn’t a realistic move, but del Toro held out hope against hope. The notorious G.D.T. conducted a Twitter poll to gauge interest in a new Hellboy (both answers were “yes,” so the results were not as ironclad as we may like) and promised to sit down with the producers to revisit the concept. Here’s how I imagine that meeting:

GUILLERMO DEL TORO: So, how’s about a new Hellboy?
PRODUCERS: Please stop telling people this could happen.

And with that, the dream was dead. The director tweeted a somber announcement that Hellboy was officially six feet under earlier today:

Doesn’t get much more final than that. Which is fine, all things considered! All this means is that one of today’s most popular and widely beloved directors will continue to helm original films instead of returning to another sequel. To quote good ol’ Doug and Bob McKenzie: the punishment is not too bad, eh? And hey, we’ve still got the Pacific Rim sequel to look forward to.

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