One of the most under-appreciated shows on television is Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal. The series takes a revisionist approach to telling the stories covered in the films RED DRAGON, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, HANNIBAL, and HANNIBAL RISING all while using a very distinct visual style that is scarier and more disturbing than almost anything on television. Unlike the pulpy Bates Motel series, Hannibal is as high class as it’s title character.
When season three premieres in a few weeks, Hannibal is poised to unleash two characters familiar to fans of Thomas Harris‘ novels and the feature films mentioned above. This new trailer gives us our first look at THE HOBBIT’s Richard Armitage as Francis Dolarhyde and Joe Anderson as Mason Verger. While Verger was seen in season two as played by Michael Pitt, the season three incarnation looks a lot like Gary Oldman‘s portrayal in HANNIBAL. Armitage will be playing the third incarnation of Dolarhyde, previously portrayed by Tom Noonan in MANHUNTER and Ralph Fiennes in RED DRAGON.
We also get glimpses of Laurence Fishburne returning as Jack Crawford and Hugh Dancy as Will Graham, both of whose fates were left ambiguous at the end of season two. And, there is the expanded role for the still gorgeous Gillian Anderson.
Hannibal playing during the summer will be destination television during a time of year usually devoid of good programming. Here’s hoping it can live up to the last two seasons of the show. Hannibal debuts June 4th on NBC.