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 Hannibal Lecter 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, fans have been clamoring for a revival.
Fans might get their wish, if Fuller’s hopes of remaking The Silence of the Lambs as a TV show come to fruition—and Dancy would come along for the ride, according to the showrunner/creator/producer/writer.
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 remake would reunite the Hannibal cast, including Hannibal Lecter actor Mads Mikkelsen as well as Laurence Fishburne as Jack Crawford, with none other than movie and TV star Zendaya playing Clarice Starling, the role that Jodie Foster made famous in the iconic 1991 film alongside Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of Dr. Lecter.
Outside some off-screen mentions, Dancy’s character, Will, doesn’t actually appear in The Silence of the Lambs, which means Fuller bringing back the actor would involve a reworking of the storyline. Considering Fuller’s version would be a TV show instead of a movie, he could explore the characters much more than the film or the novel did.
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 playing the serial killer.
“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 fans 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 fans everywhere will be excitedly awaiting his return to the small screen.
Release Date
2013 – 2015-00-00
Showrunner
Bryan Fuller
