The last time we saw our dear Hannibal Lecter was in his origin story, Hannibal Rising, which received a not-so thunderous applause from fans of the highly successful trilogy involving Lecter including Anthony Hopkins' highly iconic roll as Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs. Despite the 2007 failure, Hannibal Lecter will be returning in a TV series simply titled Hannibal, with a pilot set to air on NBC in early 2013, rivaling a second series about Lecters female equal Clarice Starling in Lifetime Channels series, Clarice. This series is known by the comic book community for being the reason why former Daredevil reboot director David Slade dropped out of the project (so he could direct the pilot of this series instead), and the reason Mads Mikkelsen will no longer be playing a villianous role in 2013s Thor: The Dark World (so he can play Lecter in this series).
At San Diego ComiCon 2012, plot details were announced by Bryan Fuller, developer of the series, of the first, second, and fourth seasons. It was previously announced that Fuller had outlined the plot of the series and planned the series to be seven seasons long, the first season being only 13 episodes at length. The fact that he has now given details for three different seasons of the series gives us further evidence that he knows what he is doing. Hopefully, this is true.
The first season, planned for only 13 episodes, is what Fuller envisions as a "bromance" between Hannibal Lecter and FBI profiler Will Graham as they successfully attempt to arrest and stop serial killers. As this season ends, the second season will involve the "horrible breakup" probably somewhat like what we saw in the opening to Red Dragon. And as all the films are based on the bestselling Hannibal novel series by author Thomas Harris, the fourth season will be an adaptation of the book Red Dragon. This means it will be the third adaptation of the Thomas Harris novel, due to the failed 1986 film Manhunter, which is based on the novel, and the 2002 adaptation of the same name. This makes Red Dragon the Hannibal Lecter novel to have been adapted the most.
Like Manhunter, which changed, for example, Hannibal Lecters name to Hannibal Lecktor, the series will change a couple names including Dr. Alan Bloom to Dr. Alana Bloom and Freddy Lounds to Fredricka Lounds.
Series Synopsis: One of the most fascinating literary characters comes to life on television for the first time: psychiatrist-turned-serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. In this new drama from Bryan Fuller ("Pushing Daisies," "Heroes"), based on the characters from Thomas Harris' classic novels, we see where this incredible story began.
Will Graham is a gifted criminal profiler who is on the hunt for a serial killer with the FBI. Graham's unique way of thinking gives him the astonishing ability to empathize with anyone - even psychopaths. He seems to know what makes them tick. But when the mind of the twisted killer he's pursuing is too complicated for even Will to comprehend, he enlists the help of Dr. Lecter, one of the premier psychiatric minds in the country. Armed with the uncanny expertise of the brilliant doctor, Will and Hannibal (known as a serial killer only to the audience) form a brilliant partnership and it seems there's no villain they can't catch. If Will only knew...
Starring brilliant young actor Hugh Dancy as Will Graham, "Hannibal" will breathe new life into a deadly classic.
Official Site:
http://www.nbc.com/hannibal/