Rumors have been kicking around for a bit now that a TV series from producer Bryan Fuller (the guy also apparently trying to bring back The Munsters) featuring the prequel-ized adventures of investigator Will Graham and his best serial killer buddy, Hannibal Lecter, was in the works. Now we know that not only is it in the works, but NBC has already ordered a full 13 episode run.
Seemingly unfazed by the colossal, destructive failure that was the network's last attempt at bringing a popular film/literary franchise to the small-screen--I am, of course, referring to The Firm, which now languishes sullenly in the TV equivalent of a Single Resident Occupancy (Saturday nights)--NBC has forgone the usual courting ritual of first ordering a pilot and then deciding to pick up a series, instead going all in with the concept of the world's most famous fictional cannibal making for a great crime procedural hero...of sorts.
Again, this will involve not the Clarice Starling years of Lecter's lineage, but the earlier, Will Graham-oriented years. Graham has been played by both William Petersen and Edward Norton in various film adaptations of the novel Red Dragon, while Anthony Hopkins is the ubiquitous face of Lecter--though he was originally played by Brian Cox in Michael Mann's Manhunter. No casting choices have been bandied about yet regarding this TV series, but it's a safe bet that all of those actors are too busy to bother reprising any roles on a TV show. That said, with Community on indefinite hiatus, NBC does have a perfectly good Chevy Chase just lying around doing nothing. Pierce Hawthorne is already on the bleeding edge of psychopathy. Just sayin'.
You could surmise that the show might take on the bent of, say, a Criminal Minds meets something a bit more sinister, like Millennium. Or maybe not, since sinister isn't really NBC's bag these days. Even their show about horrible sex crimes has become peculiarly slick and bizarrely unshocking in recent years. Still, you can bet they'll still work in at least a few cannibalistic references each episode. Perhaps he can describe consuming the entire cast of Free Agents, thus explaining away how it disappeared from the airwaves so quickly.
I read this entire article...and...and I have no words ( ._.)
Oh NBC, will you ever make a smart decision?
I won't watch this if Anthony Hopkins isn't playing Lecter.
I won't watch this.
Nobody has a perfectly good Chevy Chase. Chevy Chase can't act. That's why he always plays Chevy Chase.
Cannibal Cops
@Fantasgasmic: ...except when it's actually Chevy Chase? Did you read this thing?
After Silence of the Lambs everything related to Hannibal Lector kinda sucked. Don't get me wrong Hannibal had a few neat things like the make up effects on Gary Oldman and Ray Liotta eating his own brains but overall I thought the movie was kind of silly. I thought Red Dragon was okay but not as good as Manhunter. I never saw Hannibal Rising but everything I heard about it seems awful.
I hope Thomas Harris isn't involved because Hannibal was the only novel I ever read that I consider so bad it's good and I hear Hannibal Rising is a complete train wreck.
Now that I think about it Chevy Chase would be an awesome Hannibal Lector though personally I would pick J.K. Simmons or see if John Malkovitch's star has fallen enough that he would consider doing TV.
Manhunter and Silence were incredible. Red Dragon was garbage (fuck brett Ratner). This series will probably be awful.
Its also pretty funny how much younger Hopkins looks in Silence then Red Dragon. As a matter of fact, in Red Dragon it feels like Anthony Hopkins is playing Anthony Hopkins, rather than Hannibal Lector. Very similar to Bruce WIllis playing Bruce Willis in the ever so shitty Live Free of Die Hard.
William Fichtner.
5 bucks says it's Terry O'Quinn (Locke) from Lost.
Glad to see NBC learned a lot from the Firm. Because that turned out to be a smash hit for them....oh wait....
Stupid NBC. When will you learn to greenlight shows because they're good, not because they're a "known brand" and an existing IP.
On the plus side, people, we are talking about BRYAN FUCKING FULLER here. The man is awesome.
Love Bryan Fuller! :D
I wish to upbraid someone for this peculiar transgression!
Oh Jesus, totally unrelated, but that Millennium show was fucking awesome.
@Spiritof: Come again?