2021 is set to be an exciting year for television. With Guy Ritchie’s “The Gentleman” soon to be a TV series and American Horror Story’s season 10 coming up later this year, CBS has recently released its trailer for its sequel series to the modern classic “Silence of the Lambs.”
According to TVline, this psychological horror series “Clarice” will focus on the titular FBI agent Clarice Starling one year after the events of the first film. The series promises “a deep dive into the untold personal story of Starling as she returns to the field in 1993.”
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the show’s producers have revealed several insights about the show. Surprised to say, many of these details are intriguing.
Hannibal is Hush Hush
Due to a complicated rights issue, CBS is “banned”‘ from ever mentioning the iconic Hannibal Lecter. The original film was based off of Thomas Harris’s 1988 novel by the same name. Since 1991, the rights to the story and characters have been divided between MGM and The Dino De Laurentiis Company, which produced the original movie.
The De Laurentiis Company owns the rights to Hannibal Lecter’s character, whereas MGM owns the rest. MGM is set to be behind the upcoming CBS series.
Despite the issue, executive producer Alex Kurtzman considers this technicality as a new opportunity:
“It’s been quite liberating because we have no interest in writing about Hannibal — not because we didn’t love the films and the show, but because it was done so well by so many people that it didn’t feel fresh for us.”
“Hello Clarice”
Actress Rebecca Breeds (The Originals) will be taking on the role of Clarice Starling. Like the film before it, the series hopes to delve more into the protagonist’s experience working in the male-dominated law-enforcement.
In addition to “The Male Gaze,” executive producer Jenny Lumet promises the show will also provide a critique on “The White Gaze.” The series will address these racial themes via Starling’s FBI colleague Ardelia Mapp.
“There’s no ‘black best friend’ thing going on here, that would be intolerable to us. We take a big bite into the relationship between a young black woman and a young white woman who are best friends, and have each other’s complete support, yet have never had the conversation about the differences in their lives – and Clarice has a lot of catching up to do.”
The series will be airing on CBS on February 11th, 2021.
