‘Clarice’ TV Series Is Set In 1993, After Events Of ‘Silence Of The Lambs’
Clarice, theSilence of the Lambs-inspired TV series that isn’tHannibal, has landed itself a place on the CBS midseason lineup.Rebecca Breedsplays the FBI agent, leading a cast that includesKal Penn,Nick Sandow, andDevyn A. Tyler. New details about the show come with this news, revealing the series is set after the events ofSilence of the Lambs, making it a sequel series.
WhenHannibalwas first announced as a TV series, I was skeptical. But Bryan Fuller’s weird, disturbing, beautiful series won me over. And yet…I’m hesitant to get too excited aboutClarice, anotherSilence of the Lambs-inspired show. HoweverClariceturns out, it won’t have Fuller behind-the-scenes. And it’s also headed for CBS, which isn’t exactly known these days for its ground-breaking shows.
But hey – maybeClaricewill be something truly special.Claricehas now been picked up to series, with plans to debut it sometime next March (they can’t film anything now, for obvious reasons). As for the premise,ColliderreportsClariceis set in 1993, six months after the events ofThe Silence of the Lambs, and finds Clarice Starling (Rebecca Breeds) returning to duty. “Brilliant and vulnerable, Clarice’s bravery gives her an inner light that draws monsters and madmen to her. However, her complex psychological makeup that comes from a challenging childhood empowers her to begin to find her voice while working in a man’s world, as well as escape the family secrets that have haunted her throughout her life.”
The sequel aspect will enableClariceto get around featuring Hannibal Lecter – since at the end ofSilence of the Lambs, Lecter escaped and went into hiding. The Hannibal Lecter/Clarice Starling rights are a little convoluted. If you watchedHannibal, you likely noticed that Clarice Starling never showed up. Bryan Fuller wanted to introduce the character eventually, but NBC did not have the rights to the character.
As Fuller explained, “The way the rights go, it’s not by the literature, it’s actually by the character’s introduction. So if a character is first seen inSilence of the Lambs, we’re screwed, as far as rights go.” Hannibal Lecter was introduced inRed Dragon, so Fuller was able to use that character, as well as several otherRed Dragoncharacters. On the flip side, CBS can’t use Hannibal Lecter as a character because he wasn’t introduced inSilence of the Lambs. This also means that Jack Crawford – Clarice Starling’s mentor – is unlikely to appear inClariceas well, since he, too, was introduced inRed Dragon. Like I said: it’s a little convoluted.
Below, watch a video featuringClariceproducers and co-creatorsAlex KurtzmanandJenny Lumetdiscussing the series.
