TV Shows

Silence of The Lambs Sequel Series Clarice Picked Up By CBS

CBS has ordered a new drama series called Clarice, which is a sequel series to The Silence of the […]

CBS has ordered a new drama series called Clarice, which is a sequel series to The Silence of the Lambs. As you may guess, Clarice will follow Agent Clarice Starling, six months after the events of Silence of the Lambs took place. Star Trek: Discovery creative team members Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet will oversee Clarice, while actress Rebecca Breeds (Pretty Little Liars) will take on the Agent Starling role, which was played by Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs, as well as Julian Moore in the sequel film, Hannibal. At the moment, Clarice is aiming to premiere sometime in the 2020 – 2021 broadcast season.

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Here’s the official press release announcement about Clarice, from CBS Television Studios:

“CLARICE, from acclaimed executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, and starring Rebecca Breeds (“Pretty Little Liars”) in the title role, is a deep dive into the untold personal story of brilliant and vulnerable FBI Agent Clarice Starling as she returns to the field in 1993, six months after the events of “The Silence of the Lambs.” Kal Penn, Nick Sandow, Michael Cudlitz, Lucca De Oliveira and Devyn A. Tyler also star. Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet and Heather Kadin are executive producers for MGM Television and CBS Television Studios in association with Secret Hideout. Aaron Baiers is a co-executive producer.”

If you don’t already know the timeline of events in Thomas Harris’ novels: Silence of the Lambs is the second chapter of the Hannibal Lecter trilogy, which was then followed by the Hannibal novel and movie. Hannibal takes place seven years after the Buffalo Bill case in Silence of the Lambs, at a time when Clarice Starling is leading an FBI squad of her own. How she went from being the unlikely hero of the Buffallo Bill case to FBI squad leader, is actually a wide open gap in the franchise mythos.

Of course, the big thing fans will want to know is how Hannibal Lecter can fit into Clarice. In Hannibal it’s established that Lecter kept an eye on Starling for all those years, even if he didn’t make contact. Of course, NBC’s Hannibal TV series showed what kind of great drama can come from playing with the events of the Harris books, as the show established its own version of Harris’ first Lecter book, Red Dragon. So, if Clarice wants to bring back Hannibal Lecter in some way, the door is definitely open.

The only question after that is: would Clarice bring back Mads Mikkelsen as Lecter?

Clarice is set to premiere sometime in the 2020 – 2021 broadcast season.