Ever since the ax came down on Hannibal earlier this summer, it’s been a big question mark about what the future holds for the fan-favorite series. Would another network pick it up? Would a feature film follow? Would they ever get to tell their version of The Silence of the Lambs? We’re still not sure about the answer to those first two questions, but executive producer Bryan Fuller has revealed what his plans would have been if the series had been lucky enough to gain the rights to the 1988 novel.
“I am imagining a parallel structure of Hannibal in the institution,” Fuller tells CraveOnline. “With a severely scarred Chilton, now having returned to his post, and juxtaposing that, back in the heyday of Hannibal as a psychiatrist, perhaps even earlier than we met him the first time, when he had Benjamin Raspail as a patient, and weave that story in and around the modern day Silence of the Lambs tale as we know it….If we got Silence of the Lambs we would be hitting Barney, we would be hitting Benjamin Raspail, we would be hitting Buffalo Bill there would be the same kind of voracious need to fan fictionalize all of those characters [laughs] and reimagine certain specific scenarios that caused them to cross paths, or uncross paths as their stories were unfolding.”
Fuller also went on to detail who he would have liked to cast as Clarice Starling, saying:
“Well, theres a couple of ways to go. Theres the Ellen Page way, which I think would be fantastic and more kind of in line with the Clarice that we all know. But I know I would also like to explore who Clarice would be from a different racial background. Theres something about being poor and white in the South but theres something else about being poor and black in the South, and I think it could be the necessary gateway into the character, to make Clarice as much our own signature character as we tried to make Will Graham.”
In addition, Fuller revealed his former “Pushing Daisies” star Lee Pace, who he notes they tried multiple times to get on Hannibal, would have been his choice for the role of Buffalo Bill.
“I would love to cast Lee Pace as Buffalo Bill. His first, most notable, award-winning career move was playing a transgendered person [in 2003s A Soldiers Girl], and I think it would be fascinating to return him to that side of his acting skill.”
The potential for Hannibal to return is still up in the air, but sound off with your thoughts on these proposed ideas in the comments below!
