NBC Orders 13 Episodes of HANNIBAL With Some Fava Beans and a Nice Chianti

Go directly to 13-episode pickup.  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $200.

Enterainment Weekly reports that NBC has given a full direct-to-series order of 13 episodes to Bryan Fuller's Hannibal, based on the cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter created by writer Thomas Harris.  The series will apparently be based on the first Dr. Lecter novel Red Dragon and has the following logline description:

"One-hour contemporary thriller series featuring the classic characters from Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon – FBI agent Will Graham and his mentor Dr. Hannibal Lecter – who are re-introduced at the beginning of their budding relationship."

Dr. Lecter, of course, first achieved mainstream popularity with the brilliant performance by Sir Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs, which earned Hopkins a much-deserved Best Actor Academy Award.  However, actor Brian Cox had previously played Dr. Lecter in the 1986 Michael Mann film Manhunter, which was based on the Red Dragon novel.  Hopkins later reprised the role in the 2001 adaptation of the third Dr. Lecter novel Hannibal, and then again a year later in Brett Ratner's adaptation of Red Dragon.