Thomas Harris fans everywhere will enjoy the first look at Mads Mikkelsen in character as the latest incarnation of Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter. Set to debut midseason on NBC, Hannibal will also star Hugh Dancy as Special Agent Will Graham in the series from creator Bryan Fuller (Heroes, Pushing Daisies).
Tricky business it is to fill the shoes of other actors in an iconic role (just ask the Bondsmen), but from this glimpse it appears that Mikkelsen may well be our new antihero.
Hannibal Lecter made his screen debut in 1986 with Bryan Cox in Michael Mann’s Manhunter, an adaptation of novelist Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon. While serving as a decent thriller, it fell egregiously short of honoring the source material, and after the juggernaut success of The Silence of the Lambs starring the now legendary Anthony Hopkins, the Lecter-rights-holding De Laurentiis’ rectified the situation with the solid (if not completely courageous) 2002 reboot starring Hopkins and an excellent Edward Norton as Graham.
Now with Bryan Fuller writing Hannibal the series with none other than Thomas Harris himself, it seems the decades-long wait will be over and we’ll finally get to see the true dynamic between Hannibal and Will Graham: why one person carries out a deed while another does not, when cut from apparently the same cloth. Hannibal finds it amusing, Graham finds it appalling, we’ll likely find it utterly captivating.
Mads Mikkelsen seems to have the demeanor down, providing he doesn’t tend toward affectation (difficult to tell simply from a snapshot). However, he’s already proven his ability to chill with a cool, detached stare (remember Casino Royale), and will likely create nice interplay with Dancy.
What are your thoughts? Dead on, smarmy, unnerving ~ all of the above? And, don’t forget to check out some additional photos from the set below,
