Mads Mikkelsen Cast as Dr. Lecter in NBC's HANNIBAL

Break out the fava beans and the Chianti, because it looks like NBC has found their new Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen has been cast in the leading role for the upcoming TV series Hannibal, based on the Dr. Lecter novels by writer Thomas Harris.  Mikkelsen is best known as the James Bond villain Le Chiffre from the 2006 film Casino Royale and as Draco from the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans.  He will be the fourth actor to take on the role, after Brian Cox, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Gaspard Ulliel.

NBC gave the series, produced by Bryan Fuller, an initial 13-episode order back in February as a mid-season replacement.  Starring actor Hugh Dancy as FBI profiler Will Graham, Hannibal is set before the first Dr. Lecter novel, Red Dragon, with Graham recruiting Lecter for assistance solving murders while being unaware of how dangerous Lecter truly is.

"It’s before he was incarcerated, so he's more of a peacock," remarked Fuller.  "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."