Mikkelsen

With upfronts gone in a blink, one series that was never showcased during NBC’s sneak peek at their upcoming slate was the series Hannibal. With Hugh Dancy cast as Special Agent Will Graham, the biggest missing component is who exactly will play the famous titular character. Who will be the man destined to turn to cannibalism? Who will play Hannibal Lecter? Well, it seems NBC is ready to reveal who will be their resident future criminal.

The network revealed today that officially cast in the role of Hannibal Lecter has been Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen is perhaps best known here in the states as the villain role of James Bond’s Casino Royale, and is currently in talks to play an unknown villain in the highly anticipated Thor 2.

NBC went from no pilot what so ever to a full series order of 13 episodes for the freshman series. It’s expected to debut at mid-season, likely in March.

The series will lie on the relationship between Graham and his mentor Dr. Hannibal Lecter, as the two are re-introduced at the “beginning of their budding relationship”. Creator Bryan Fuller spoke on that relationship saying, “It really is a love story, for lack of a better description, between these two characters. As Hannibal has said [to Graham] in a couple of the movies, ‘You’re a lot more like me than you realize.’ We’ll get to the bottom of exactly what that means over the course of the first two seasons. But we’re taking our sweet precious time.”