'Hannibal' Trailer: A New Vision Of A Familiar Story

What does it take to generate new interest in a property as well-worn as the Hannibal Lecter story sequence from novelist Thomas Harris? For the new TV show Hannibal, in which producer Bryan Fuller charts the early days of the working relationship between FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Lecter, a few things are obvious parts of the approach.

The cast is on. In addition to Dancy there's the attention-getting choice of Mads Mikkelsen (Pusher, Casino Royale) as Lecter, with the addition of Laurence Fishburne, Gina Torres, Gillian Anderson, Eddie Izzard and Ellen Greene, with Caroline Dhavernas and Lance Henriksen.

And then there's Fuller's style, which oozes from this first full trailer. His weird American Gothic approach looks very much like a good fit for this story. We've seen the Lecter story told exhaustively on film (in Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Hannibal Rising, and the Manhunter remake Red Dragon) but visually, at least, this version seems to go in a new direction. And while the story lends itself to the old procedural format that is so familiar from innumerable TV shows, that visual style helps Hannibal stand out.

Check out the trailer below.

Hannibal premieres in April.