Hannibal Season 3 Update!

Gore, macabre, suspense, ruthlessness and of course murder sum up the first two seasons of the NBC hit show, Hannibal. If you are a fan of the movie franchise like myself, you would have been skeptical when this TV show was first announced in 2013. What really threw me off was the NBC network picking up this type of show when its main demographic is aimed at families and the 25 – 45 age demographic. With that being said, in comes a show based primarily on a demented cannibal by the name of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. But, what really grabbed the audience’s attention was observing this psychopath in a whole new light with the introduction of many new characters and how the primary focus isn’t always on Hannibal the Cannibal. These characters consists of the main protagonist and criminal profiler mastermind, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), and Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson). But Hannibal isn’t the only malevolent character spilling blood in the first two seasons. Mason Verger played by the wonderful and talented actor, Michael Pitt, really stole the show and his own “face” in season two with some self-cutlery skills that spilled more blood than the introduction scene in Carrie. How was this show still on air and not removed by NBC? I could imagine this show would fit in nicely on AMC, HBO, Showtime or FX, but maybe the executive team saw something special with this show that the audience noticed in the past two seasons.

So far the heavily anticipated Season 3 has had a few HUGE announcements thus far, one being Michael Pitt not signing on for season 3 for undisclosed reasons, and being re-cast by Joe Anderson. The other was announced by NBC on January 13th of a new villain making his way to our TV screens in the springtime. None other than Frances Dollarhyde (Tooth Fairy) will be played by Richard Armitage who played Thorin in the hugely successful Hobbit Franchise. Ralph Fiennes played this disturbing character in the Red Dragon film back in 2002 and was notorious for his body art. Tom Noonan also played the character in Michael Mann’s first adaptation of the book in Manhunter. This may be a little out of the Richard Armitage’s comfort zone from his previous work, but those are usually the performances that stick out, and really put the actor on the map. For instance, There were numerous fans displeased with Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker in The Dark Knight film, yet it turned out to be his best performance. I have faith in the whole directing and writing team of the Hannibal TV series as they have NOT disappointed yet. This is a great way to bring another major motion picture actor into a weekly, televised platform to see what they are capable of doing.

There will be bloodshed, there will disassembled bodies, and most importantly there will be a new villain haunting our dreams every week!