Alex Kurtzman, creator of the “Silence of the Lambs” sequel series “Clarice,” has confirmed that the upcoming CBS show not only won’t but can’t include the Hannibal Lecter character. In any form.
The early 1993-set series takes place a few months after the events of Thomas Harris’ book and the 1991 film adaptation and so at this point, Lecter is in hiding and won’t re-emerge until the events of “Hannibal”.
Intriguingly not only will the character not appear onscreen, they actually can’t even mention him by name due to legalities concerning the rights of the character.
Kurtzman tells EW: “I’m still trying to understand how the rights are divided. But it’s been quite liberating because we have no interest in writing about Hannibal – not because we didn’t love the films and the show, but because it was done so well by so many people that it didn’t feel fresh for us.”
The series is able to incorporate other elements specific to that novel including the characters of Buffalo Bill and Catherine Martin with the latter having adopted Bill’s dog, Precious.
The series follows FBI Agent Clarice Starling (Rebecca Breeds) as she returns to the field to pursue serial murderers and sexual predators while navigating the high stakes political world of Washington, D.C. It will make its debut on CBS and CBS All Access on Thursday, February 11th.
