NBC could use a few good new dramas, and while it looks like they have at least one under their belt with Smash, and I doubt I’m alone in being especially hopeful that their upcoming drama Awake proves to live up to the cast and story’s potential. Speaking of potential, last fall, NBC ordered a pilot for a TV drama featuring characters from Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon. The latest update on Hannibal is very good news, to say the least.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, NBC has given a series order to Hannibal, which is set to be adapted by Bryan Fuller, whose background in death-focused TV shows (Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me) should prove useful for a series like this. The order is for 13 episodes, and the Reporter describes the series as:
An hourlong contemporary thriller featuring characters from Harris' best-seller and revolves around FBI agent Will Graham and his mentor, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who are reintroduced as the beginning of their budding relationship.
It certainly sounds like an ambitious project, especially considering the novel has been adapted to film more than once already (1986’s Manhunter and the 2002 film Red Dragon). Hopkins’ take on Lecter sets the bar especially high.
On the pilot front, NBC has given a pilot order for Notorious, which the Reporter refers to as Revenge-like, elaborating by describing it as, “an opulent soap in which a female detective returns to undercover to the wealthy family she grew up in -- as the maid's daughter -- to solve the murder of the notorious heiress who was once her closest friend.”
That does sound fairly similar to Revenge, but it also sounds intriguing. We’ll have to wait and see if it receives a series order. In the meantime, Hannibal is a go.
