WWE Studios and Lionsgate are hoping their San Diego Comic-Con promotions will turn green when they release Leprechaun: Origins on August 26.

Having just watched the original 1993 film, I’m quite excited to see the franchise return to its darker roots – and from what I hear, this time we get to see the birth of good ol’ Lep!

We caught up with WWE’s Hornswoggle (Dylan Postl), who plays the film’s title character, as well as director Zach Lipovsky, to talk about the Leprechaun’s origins.

“For me the biggest and coolest challenge was that Leprechauns aren’t something that people are generally frightened by,” Lipovsky tells us of the character and his idea for how the film should play out.

“We asked ourselves, can we do something that would be legitimately scary for people, and if so, what would that look like? Anything was on the table so that was really fun. It was fun to come on to the project and make it something that honors the mythology and is iconic and be totally fresh with our approach. We looked into making the origin story of a creature that maybe thousands of years ago the Celtics met in a cave or something that was really scary. They would tell their stories and those stories are told to the present day. Back then there was actually something that was terrifying at the root of the lore. Something horrific and terrifying.

“Our Leprechaun is completely different than what you’re used to seeing in movies and elsewhere,” Lipovsky continues. “Our approach was to make something that could really be out there. Something more organic and less fairy tale. Our creature is something that clearly has biological roots. That being said, it does have all the traits you’d expect from a Leprechaun… the pointy ears, the lust for gold… but ours also has the skin of… let’s say a naked mole rat. It has dead things hanging off of it… we took a very dark and disturbing approach when it came to bringing it to life. Our creature can communicate, but not with traditional dialogue. Dylan had to communicate non-verbally under a ton of make-up, but thankfully when his WWE character of Hornswoggle came to life, he didn’t speak at first and had to do everything with his eyes and body language. That was really good prep for him to play a creature like this. Having someone who was a trained athlete who has a lot of endurance made all of the difference in getting this done and really nailing it. I think people are really going to surprised at how scary this flick is.”

Postl agrees, “This is so different and so original. It’s not what fans have been conditioned to expect from the ‘Leprechaun’ movies. There’s no hokey gags. No limericks or poetry. This is a horror movie, man. Most fans are going to go into this thinking that they’re going to be seeing a guy in a green suit… that’s NOT happening. The make-up process was 2-1/2 hours in, 1 hour to get out of it, then we do that over and over again. By Day 3 I was ANGRY,” Dylan says with a laugh. “It was summer in Vancouver… 100 degree heat and I’m wearing this suit… it was miserable. No matter how many air conditioning or fan units there were, it didn’t matter. You’re just baking. After seeing the complete film, though, I would have sat in the chair for 5 hours if need be. The effect we got with this character is just amazing. Seeing the final product made it all worth it.

“Performing outside of a WWE ring was a very different experience for me,” says Postl of acting on set in comparison to performing in front of a live audience. “In the ring if you hit someone in the face, you get an immediate reaction. You don’t have that when you shoot a movie so you don’t know whether or not it’s good or bad until it’s cut. Not playing off of an audience is very challenging.

“I’m with WWE Superstars so much… more than my own family and we get on each other’s nerves. I want to punch them in the face,” Dylan jokes about the differences between working with traditional actors and not other wrestlers. “The four co-stars that I have… guys and girls, they’re all so pretty… I don’t want to punch them in the face. I’ll punch Kane [who in the same room with us doing press] in the face though! No problem! Those four… I call them kids… they’re so nice and so awesome to work with. We had a lot of fun on our days off.”

Wrapping things up. Postl tells us that the movie is a bit open-ended. “Yep, there might be more coming! In terms of coming back for another, I would only want to work with Zach on it. He’s incredible… so giving and so wanting of my input. Working with him was my favorite part of portraying Leprechaun, working on his movements and mannerisms. I think fans are really gonna love this. It’s like a total roller coaster. You guys are gonna be quite surprised.”

Leprechaun: Origins also stars Stephanie Bennett, Teach Grant (The Tall Man, Devour, Repeaters, “Cult”), Bruce Blain (“Supernatural”), Adam Boys, and Brendan Fletcher (“The Killing,” Freddy vs. Jason, 13 Eerie).

The original Leprechaun, which featured comedic elements, followed an evil leprechaun searching for his pot of gold while avoiding four-leaf clovers. “The tone [of ‘Origins’] is going to be a little darker, a little more traditional horror than the Warwick Davis ones that people remember, trying to find a way to please fans of that genre; but at the same time this is really being played for scares,” said WWE president Michael Luisi in an earlier interview.