After 10 years, Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller hopes to revive the series with an iconic leading lady taking on the portrayal of a major character.
The 2x Emmy nominee recently shared his idea for a long-overdue fourth season of the NBC series, which ran from 2013 to 2015, starring Mads Mikkelsen as the titular cannibalistic psychiatrist.
“My dream project is to do a limited series of Silence of the Lambs with Mads and Zendaya as Clarice Starling,” Fuller told ScreenRant. “If I could put anything out into the universe, I would put that into the universe.”
Based on author Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon (1981), Hannibal (1999) and Hannibal Rising (2006), the series starred Hugh Dancy as FBI criminal profiler Will Graham, who hunts serial killers with help from Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
Mikkelsen told Deadline in 2023 “there’s always a chance” he could reprise his role as Hannibal, adding: “It’s all about finding a home for it.”
“Of course, we’re running out of time,” added Mikkelsen. “We can’t wait 20 years, but in the next couple of years, if somebody finds a home, I think we are all ready to take it up again.”
Fuller previously expressed his desire to do something with the “very fantastic” character of Clarice, explaining at Comic-Con in 2015 that “we don’t have rights to” the role.
“We tried – every year we’d go back to MGM,” he explained. “At first, it was a hard ‘No’, then it was ‘Ask us later’ and then it was ‘Ask us again next year’ – it would be fantastic [if they agreed].”
Fuller liked Elliot Page for the role, “but I also love the idea of casting somebody who’s not white in that role,” adding: “Having race play a factor in Clarice’s background, in a way that race plays a factor in everybody’s background, I think that would be an interesting exploration of the character.”
The Hannibal showrunner’s latest comment comes after Rebecca Breeds took on the role of Starling from Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs (1988) in the 2021 CBS series adaptation Clarice, which was set after the events of the book.
Jodie Foster previously won the Oscar for Best Actress after playing Clarice in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), before Julianne Moore took over the role in Hannibal (2001).
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