Hannibal Lecter, as portrayed by Anthony Hopkins and in the hands of director Jonathan Demme, was one of the scariest horror villains in recent memory. He was psychologically chilling. But ever since Hopkins rode him to an Oscar in Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter has been nothing but diminished returns. The character has gone from scary psychopath to brooding CW-esque killer in a span of four movies. We would have thought the not-so-good Hannibal Rising would have put Lector to sleep for a bit, but, according to Devin Faraci at BAD, a television show is in the works about a young Hannibal Lecter.
At the very least, the show will be overseen by television genius Bryan Fuller (Heroes, Dead Like Me, Wonder Falls, Pushing Daisies), so it has a great chance of being critically beloved but cancelled very quickly. There’s aren’t too many details at the moment, so it’s likely still in the gestation period; however, the premise has a young Lecter terrorizing Will Graham — Ed Norton’s character in Red Dragon. Faraci says it best: “hope[fully] it’s basically cannibalistic Frasier.” Make of this what you will.