NBC has high hopes for it’s new series HANNIBAL. The low-rated network desperately needs a hit show and if HANNIBAL is cast correctly, this could be their new flagship. Of course, everyone thought THE PLAYBOY CLUB, AWAKE, THE FIRM, or PRIME SUSPECT would be hits and they all got cancelled earlier this year.
In what I think is a brilliant choice, the new version of Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter will be played by Mads Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen is most widely recognized as Le Chiffre in CASINO ROYALE but has also starred in the excellent PUSHER films and the upcoming THOR 2.
Mikkelsen will join Hugh Dancy in the series which will follow FBI agent Will Graham as he and Lecter solve crimes leading up to the events depicted in RED DRAGON. NBC has already ordered thirteen episodes of the series, which is being run by Bryan Fuller.
Fuller described the relationship between the characters: “There is a cheery disposition to our Hannibal. He’s not being telegraphed as a villain. If the audience didn’t know who he was, they wouldn’t see him coming. What we have is Alfred Hitchcock’s principle of suspense — show the audience the bomb under the table and let them sweat when it’s going to go boom. So the audience knows who Hannibal is so we don’t have to overplay his villainy. We get to subvert his legacy and give the audience twists and turns.”
What do you think of the casting of Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter?