Gillian Anderson returning to TV to play Hannibal Lecter's therapist

We don't see a lot of Gillian Anderson lately, but when she's coming back to genre television, that's pretty noteworthy! After a ten-year absence from American television, the former X-Files star is set to play a recurring role as Hannibal Lecter's therapist on NBC's upcoming Hannibal series. I like this news. I like it bunches. And not just because Anderson will get to wear better blazers onscreen. (via CNN's The Marquee)

When she isn't nerding out that the holidays are coming, Jamie is a reader at Monday Night Fan Fiction at Fontana's in Chinatown, NYC (next date: TBA, 7:00 PM). All work is original, written by the readers, so if you have a brilliant fanfic idea stuck in your head, send it via Twitter: @jamielikesthis

MORE: Entertainment • genre television • Gillian Anderson • Hannibal • tv

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http://deansli.st/ Dean Putney

Who’s playing Hannibal? Anthony Hopkins is the One True Hannibal, it’s blasphemy to have it any other way.
- vonbobo
  
  Vince Vaughn
  - EH
    
    “I know, right? So this guy is all, ‘Hey that’s my kidney,’ and I’m coming at him with the knife, which of course I don’t need, and it’s like ‘What the hell, dude? I’m tryna kill you here, don’t try to have a conversation about it.’”
    
    Vince Vaughn in “The Dextopranos.”
  - http://deansli.st/ Dean Putney
    
    THIS IS A CRUEL JOKE
    - Preston Sturges
      
      Anything with Vince Vaughn is a cruel joke.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Couldn’t they get Zac Efron?
    - Preston Sturges
      
      There must be an unemployed Baldwin floating around….
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        I believe that they outnumber employed Baldwins three to one.
- Daneel
  
  ~~Anthony Hopkins~~ Brian Cox. FTFY.
- http://twitter.com/MadelineAshby Madeline Ashby
  
  Actually, it’s Mads Mikkelsen, AKA LeChiffre.
  - welcomeabored
    
    Oof… good choice. Mads does ‘predatory’ exceptionally well, and it’s about time we saw more of this actor here in the U.S.. He can compete with all the Swedish actors who have come to Hollywood looking for work… not that I’m complaining.
vonbobo

So no x-files sequal?? :(
- Brainspore
  
  Your happy face is upside down.
- bcsizemo
  
  Did you even see the last one?
  
  I got the same feeling from it that I did when I realized Santa wasn’t real…so depressing
EH

The series doesn’t start for some time, but the slashfic starts NOW.
- Brainspore
  
  All Hannibal Lecter stories are slashfic.
  - EH
    
    Little known fact: before his family had their name corrupted coming through Ellis Island, it was spelled “Lickter.”
liquidstar

This makes perfect sense to me, as I always thought that her Scully character was cast in the mold of Jodi Foster’s role in Silence of the Lambs.
http://twitter.com/chrisjimson chris jimson

Ohhhh, sounds good, I hope it’s a sit-com!
Preston Sturges

I haven’t seen an outfit like that since the Mike Douglas Show was canceled.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Was Adrienne Barbeau wearing it? She seems to have been his last guest.
http://twitter.com/BedBugCrazy BedBugCrazy

She didn’t do a very good job of therapy now did she?
Shibi_SF

Oooh, I love Gillian Anderson. I hope that she can use her ‘real’ accent on TV!
- Daneel
  
  Which of her real accents?
  - Shibi_SF
    
    The hot one, of course!
- IronEdithKidd
  
  She’s from Michigan. What accent are you referring to?
  - Shibi_SF
    
    Her English accent, actually. She was born in Chicago, but she picked up the accent during 6 or so childhood years in London. She moved to Michigan when she was 11.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Her English accent has been less than warmly received by the natives.
http://twitter.com/rvitelli Romeo Vitelli

I’m not sure I understand the premise of a Hannibal Lecter TV show. Will this be like Dexter where Hannibal only eats bad people?
C.J. Casey

I was never a big fan of “The X File” or indeed anything Gillian Anderson was in… until I saw the 2005 BBC version of “Bleak House.” When that series came out on DVD, I ordered it on Netflix, watched the first episode, sent it back immediately, and ordered it on Amazon. Hands down best Dickens adaptation ever.
Lord Xenu

Hey I’m actually in this! Hannibal is played by Mads Mikkelson (the baddie from Casino Royale). God that guy looks creepy…
- IronEdithKidd
  
  Only creepy with the one-eye-shut and copious scars makeup. Otherwise, not so creepy.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Although he’s undeniably handsome, his smile has about it that “shark preparing to bite” quality.
    - IronEdithKidd
      
      I likes ‘em rugged and Viking. ;-)
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Why do his characters always have eye problems?
      - IronEdithKidd
        
        That I cannot answer. It’s a mystery. Perhaps meant to disguise the fact that he’s well known in his home country as a comedian, not as a bad ass?
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Really? Those wacky Danes.
      - IronEdithKidd
        
        @Antinous_Moderator:disqus Hey, watch it, there. I’m half Danish.
planettom

Gillian Anderson was at Dragon Con this year. She was describing this BBC production she just did, THE FALL, where she’s a British cop sent to Belfast to deal with a serial killer, or something like that. Sounded interesting. I hope it airs on BBC America sometime.
10xor01

Gillian Anderson? Thumbs up!

Anyone making this series at all? Ack.
Jake0748

I know… I’m clueless. I have never gotten the appeal of Hannibal. There’s enough stupid shit in the world without having to follow the adventures of a cannibal? No matter how erudite he may be. Somebody clue me in.
- Jake0748
  
  But, but… I love the X-FIles and Gillian Anderson.
  - Brainspore
    
    Did you just arrive here from 1993? I can relate! Because I’m a time traveller from 2006 and seem to be the only one around here who appreciates “Lost.”
- Halloween_Jack
  
  He’s a minor but plot-critical character in Red Dragon, Thomas Harris’ second novel (and also a minor character in the first movie adaptation, Manhunter). Harris brought him back for Silence of the Lambs, in which he’s much more fully-fleshed out; he’s sort of an ubermensch who eats people mostly because he considers most of them to be little better than cattle. That’s really the appeal of the character; if you have even a little bit of highbrow culture appreciation, if you like good food and art and classical music, and feel alienated by the unwashed masses with their junk food and Jersey Shore and autotuned “music”, then you can kind of dig where he’s coming from: like him, you feel imprisoned by your inferiors, and if you have to escape over the bodies of a couple of hillbillies, what of it?
  
  Of course, that doesn’t mean that the books themselves haven’t fallen in quality. Harris doesn’t work very fast, and I thought that Hannibal, published eleven years after TSotL, didn’t have much to show for the time; it’s a collection of ever-more-ridiculous grotesqueries, including one scene where Lecter licks the steering wheel of Agent Starling’s car. And that’s not even getting to the main villain, who literally drinks martinis laced with the tears of children. Hannibal Rising spent a lot of time on Lecter’s origin, when the big secret was already told in the previous book.
  
  You might have guessed that I don’t have high hopes for the series. But, who knows? At any rate, it should do until Anderson finds something better, we don’t see enough of her.
http://www.tavie.com Tavie

Also, SCOTT THOMPSON is in this series. SCOTT THOMPSON. So, yes. That.
- Preston Sturges
  
  Buddy Cole!
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Francesca Fiore!
    - Paul Renault
      
      Bruno Ponce-Jones and Francesca Fiore in a Very Complicated Movie Plot.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rOKE2t0EHA
      
      /It’s all sub-text, y’know.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        You know, I just discovered last night that it’s Bruno Puntz Jones.
      - Paul Renault
        
        I did not know that!
  - Halloween_Jack
    
    If only.
http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke

I would have hoped the HANNIBAL series would be a Food Network production.
http://glad-you-asked.blogspot.com aarrgghh

so … gillian’s gonna be lecter’s harley quinn?
vonbobo

Is that… Is that your flashlight, Mulder?