Bond villain Mads Mikkelsen cast as TV's Hannibal Lecter

NBC is producing a new drama focused on the famed fictional character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Known to English-speaking audiences as Le Chiffre in the successful 21st James Bond outing, "Casino Royale", Mads Mikkelsen has won the role it has taken months of searching to cast.

The series is helmed by Bryan Fuller and follows FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) as he enlists renowned psychiatrist Dr. Lecter for his assistance solving crimes, not realizing he’s secretly the most monstrous killer of them all.

“It’s before he was incarcerated, so he’s more of a peacock,” Fuller told EW. “There is a cheery disposition to our Hannibal. He’s not being telegraphed as a villain. If the audience didn’t know who he was, they wouldn’t see him coming. What we have is Alfred Hitchcock’s principle of suspense — show the audience the bomb under the table and let them sweat when it’s going to go boom. So the audience knows who Hannibal is so we don’t have to overplay his villainy. We get to subvert his legacy and give the audience twists and turns.”

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