Mads Mikkelsen Teases ‘Hannibal’ Reboot: It’s ‘Not Over Yet’

Mads Mikkelsen is still looking to reprise his beloved character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter with a “Hannibal” reboot.

The Danish actor had an update for Business Insider over how, almost 10 years since the cancelation of the NBC thriller series, he and creator Bryan Fuller are still in talks to reboot the series. “Hannibal” served as an episodic prequel to “Silence of the Lambs,” with Mikkelsen portraying the cannibal serial killer originally played by Anthony Hopkins in the Oscar-winning film. “Hannibal” co-starred Hugh Dancy and was canceled in 2015 after three seasons.

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“I really don’t want to go back to any of my characters, except maybe for Hannibal because he’s not over yet,” Mikkelsen said. “It’s no secret that all of us who were part of the cast and Bryan, we all want to go back. It’s got to happen eventually sooner than later because we’re not getting any younger, right?”

He continued, “But the story itself can jump, it can have that gap, which is fine. So it’s all about finding a home for it, but that’s nothing concrete out there now. […] We love the show and there seem to be a lot of other people liking it as well.”

Mikkelsen recently reunited with “Hannibal” showrunner Fuller for the film “Dust Bunny,” which Mikkelsen said gave him a “little whiff of the old times” collaborating together on the series. The “Casino Royale” alum added that Fuller has “got a few ideas” for how to reboot the show.

“So I can’t really reveal any, in case we do start,” Mikkelsen said, citing his and Dancy’s characters fates, “but I’m sure they made it somehow.”

Rumors circulated in 2020 after “Hannibal” began streaming on Netflix and marked a resurgence of fandom. Mikkelsen told IndieWire at the time that if revived, “Hannibal” Season 4 would directly connect to “Silence of the Lambs” and hopefully include the Buffalo Bill serial killer character.

“That’s always been an issue because they didn’t have the rights for that book,” Mikkelsen noted. “But that’s obviously the most famous part and we’d love to go in there. We’d obviously switch it around a little and do all kinds of crazy stuff with it. That story is so interesting and the characters in it are as interesting. We’d switch around the genders and maybe even put two characters into one. We would love to find someone to play Buffalo Bill. That’s going to be tough. We found a Hannibal, so it’s possible.”

“Hannibal” creator Fuller previously tweeted in 2017 that the series “tried many times to work with MGM to include Clarice into our ‘Hannibal’ story,” adding, “They ultimately told us they had their own plans for Clarice and they didn’t need Hannibal to tell her story. Don’t think this impacts a potential ‘Hannibal’ Season 4 as we never had Clarice rights.”

While Mikkelsen has now confirmed “Hannibal” is the only role he would reprise, one of Mikkelsen’s critically acclaimed films, “Another Round,” landed an English-language remake. The upcoming feature, which is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, will be reportedly directed by Chris Rock (via Deadline).

Original “Another Round” filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg told IndieWire in 2021 that Mikkelsen was unlikely to reprise the role for the remake.

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