Bryan Fuller has never stopped thinking about Hannibal. Even a decade after NBC pulled the plug on his slow-burn psychological horror series in 2015, Fuller is still dreaming big. The show, based on Thomas Harris’ novels, was a stylish new take on the story of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, turning the cannibalistic psychiatrist into one of television’s most interesting villains. Fans have been hoping for a revival ever since, and now Fuller is openly sharing an idea for a continuation: a limited series adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs, starring Mads Mikkelsen and Zendaya.
“I would put that into the universe,” Fuller told ScreenRant at TIFF, where his new horror movie Dust Bunny, also starring Mikkelsen, has been earning solid reviews. He’s talking about a world where Clarice Starling is played by Zendaya, bringing fresh energy to one of modern cinema’s most memorable female characters. Jodie Foster set the bar decades ago, with Julianne Moore and Rebecca Breeds offering different takes later, but Fuller wants to reimagine the cat-and-mouse tension of Harris’ novels for a new generation.
Mads Mikkelsen, of course, is all in. Reflecting on the original series, he described the work as intense. “The work itself was brutal because we had long hours, with scripts coming in late. It’s TV, and what we were doing was elaborate. The texts were high-IQ texts. The monologues or the dialogues were always about fine art, music. You had to learn Japanese, Hungarian, and words you had simply never heard before. And you had to do it within two hours because everything came so late. Having said that, I would love to go back. Everybody wants to go back, and if there’s only one season and we’re sure about that, he can finish it in a proper, surprising, stunning way.”
For fans, Mikkelsen’s Lecter might have even been better than Anthony Hopkins in the role. Alongside Hugh Dancy’s Will Graham, he created one of TV’s most memorable psychopaths. The series combined fine art, classical music, and the psychological, setting it apart from other adaptations.
Fuller’s idea is to build on what worked, without repeating mistakes from previous film adaptations. “If I could put anything out into the universe, I would put that into the universe,” Fuller said.
It’s been a decade since Hannibal ended after three seasons and 39 episodes, yet fans are still begging for the show to return. With both Fuller’s ideas and Mikkelsen’s excitement to return, fans could see Hannibal again someday… in Hannibal Season 4 or maybe in a series based on The Silence of the Lambs.
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