Bryan Fuller just revealed if actor Hugh Dancy would reprise his Hannibal character, Will Graham, in a possible remake of The Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal was a critically acclaimed prequel series that ran for three seasons and quickly became a cult classic.
Poor ratings led NBC to cancel the show, but ever since the final episode aired a decade ago, viewers have been clamoring for a revival. Audiences might get their wish if Fuller's hopes of adapting The Silence of the Lambs as a TV show come to fruition, and Dancy would come along for the ride.
While appearing on The Playlist's Discourse podcast, Fuller explained that he's still trying to get the rights to The Silence of the Lambs "ironed out," which is "a little more complicated now." He's in the middle of trying to sort those issues out, so nothing can be announced just yet. For now, his dream project is a "wishlist item."
“The rights are a little more complicated now. They’re getting ironed out. It’s getting ironed out, but it’s not ironed out right now. It’s a wishlist item.”
If Fuller gets his way, his iteration would reunite the Hannibal cast, including Hannibal Lecter actor Mads Mikkelsen as well as Laurence Fishburne as Jack Crawford. He previously spoke with ScreenRant about his dream casting of Zendaya as Clarice Starling, the role that Jodie Foster made famous in the iconic 1991 film alongside Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Dr. Lecter.
During a recent screening of his new movie Dust Bunny, Fuller reunited with Dancy and Mikkelsen, which brought up so many great memories of their time working together on Hannibal.
As a result, Fuller "can't imagine" separating Dancy or Will from his version of the story. The same goes for Mikkelsen's portrayal of Lecter. In Fuller's mind, Mikkelsen is the perfect Lecter; there's no other actor he would want to play the serial killer. He elaborated in the podcast with the following:
“I can’t imagine lifting and separating those two characters and those two actors. I met with Hugh and Mads last night before the screening, and it was so wonderful to see these two guys together and their brotherhood and fraternity. I was like, we’ve got to get the band back together.”
Aside from the three seasons of Hannibal, Will was featured in Thomas Harris' Red Dragon novel, which was Lecter's introduction to the public, even before the author wrote The Silence of the Lambs. That novel was turned into the movie Manhunter in 1986 and then Red Dragon in 2002, with William Petersen and Edward Norton, respectively, playing Will.
After Hannibal was canceled, Fuller went on to work on other projects, including American Gods, Star Trek: Discovery, Predator: Badlands and now Dust Bunny, but he can't shake off the thriller series that audiences fell in love with in 2013.
It's unclear how quickly the rights issue can get resolved, but if Fuller gets the chance to remake The Silence of the Lambs, there's no doubt that Hannibal viewers everywhere will be excitedly awaiting his return to the small screen.
