The doctor will see you now! NBC’s ‘Hannibal’ has been confirmed for a third course in 2015, but what do Bryan Fuller and the cast of NBC’s darkly delicious drama have to say of season 3 at Comic-Con 2014? Get your first taste of ‘Hannibal’ season 3 with our full account of the appetizers served and morsels teased from the panel at Comic-Con 2014!

  • Mads Mikkelsen was in Denmark at the time of the panel, but delivered a special video message to the fans to say “Hopefully next year, I'll see you for a quick lunch.” Hugh Dancy also recorded a message from Australia, but of sadly lower quality.
  • One surprise guest at least got the attention of the room, Raul Esparza! Apparently, despite a bullet to the face last season, Dr. Frederick Chilton will be a “huge part” of season 3, delighting the room. Additionally, Kacey Rohl’s Abigail Hobbs will be back, and Fuller says “We are writing a role for Eddie [Izzard] to return as a flashback.”
  • As for new faces, most notable is that we’ll meet ‘Red Dragon’ character Francis Dolarhyde in the eighth episode, though no one has yet been cast. The new season will also feature the Thomas Harris characters of Hannibal’s “aunt” Lady Murasaki, as well as the literary ‘Hannibal’’s Cordell (Mason Verger’s physician) and Chief Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi.
  • Fuller wouldn’t spill exactly where we’ll find Hannibal in season 3, but a big clue can be found in the culinary episode titles for the year, which will be Italian.
  • Speaking of which, the first episode of season 3 will be very different from the series that came before, primarily focusing on Hannibal and Bedelia (Gillian Anderson) in their new life on the run. Season 3 will take place approximately one year after the season 2 finale, although we’ll have to wait until episode 4 to find out exactly what happened after the confrontation in Hannibal’s home, and the subsequent year. Expect the first half of the season to be very “FBI-lite” focusing on the hunt for Hannibal without focusing on the procedural elements or any other cases.
  • Fuller and producers talked at great length about the rights hiccups with MGM that prevent any ‘Silence of the Lambs’ characters from appearing, though they’ll continue their “full court press” to secure the characters. If it came to the point in season 4 or 5 where they’d need Clarice Starling and her story, and rights issues hadn’t been resolved, they’d likely use an analogue of the character.
  • One particularly strong moment of the panel saw Fuller answering a fan question on gender-swaps and writing for strong female characters on TV. Fuller’s passionate response elicited tears of joy from the fan, who got high-fives from other female panel-goers in attendance
  • We’ll leave you on this note. “I would love to do a surreal musical in Hannibal’s mind palace. I would love to see Mads Mikkelsen dance like Christopher Walken.”
  • Check out a brand new blooper reel that premiered at the panel:

Well, what say you? Are you excited for 'Hannibal' season 3, by all we've learned from the Comic-Con 2014 panel? Tell us what you want to see from the new season in the comments!

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