The new TV version of the Hannibal Lecter story called, shockingly, Hannibal, has been causing no end of problems for movies. Already it has dragged David Slade from Daredevil and forced Mads Mikkelsen to pass on a prime villain role in Thor: The Dark World. But it is at least doing someone a favour, as Laurence Fishburne is returning to TV to play FBI Behavioural Sciences Unit commander Jack Crawford.
Fishburne has been linked to the role in rumour for a while now, but he’s officially made a deal to appear on the NBC show, which will chart how Crawford introduces FBI agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) to the psychiatrist who can help them solve crimes. Unfortunately for the lawmen, their new colleague, Dr Hannibal Lecter (Mikkelsen) has a rather deep well of darkness and madness lurking within.
“Laurence Fishburne is an iconic man who has been making his cinematic mark since Apocalypse Now and it’s a thrill not only to work with him but to see such a brilliant, sophisticated actor step into the shoes of Thomas Harris’ brilliant, sophisticated character,” said Fuller in a statement to EW. “I cannot imagine a better cast for Hannibal than the one we’ve assembled.”
It’s not the first big TV show that the actor has been involved with; he took over for William Petersen on CSI for a few seasons. And in a bit of coincidental trivia, Petersen played Will Graham in Michael Mann’s 1986 take on the Lecter story, Manhunter. With 13 episodes planned for its first season, the series is expected to appear early next year on US TV.