A cryptic and intense trailer for ‘Hannibal’ season 3 is here

Close the curtains, pour yourself a glass of wine, and put on your finest waistcoat. The trailer for the third season of Hannibal is finally here, and it’s as atmospheric and emotionally traumatizing as you might expect.

Season 2 ended on the mother of all cliffhangers, with Hannibal and Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) on the run while everyone else tried to recover from the bloodbath Hannibal left behind. This trailer proves that Will Graham is (obviously) alive and well, but everything else is rather more obscure. As it should be, since season 3 won’t air until this summer.

“I forgive you,” Will, really? Why? What does it mean?

We won’t understand details like that until the season actually airs, but there’s definitely other information to be gleaned from this trailer. Hannibal and Bedelia are shown in what appears to be Florence, which would fit with elements from the original novels. Showrunner Bryan Fuller has already explained that this season will mash up various ideas from the books Hannibal and Hannibal Rising, saying, “It’s going to be fun to bastardize two novels into one sort of Frankenstein season.”

Clarice Starling, heroine of the books Hannibal and The Silence of the Lambs, will probably not show up in the TV series because MGM still owns the rights to the character. However, several other familiar characters are still fair game, including serial killer Francis Dolarhyde, who will be played by The Hobbit‘s Richard Armitage. We’re still rooting for Bryan Fuller’s ultimate dream casting to happen, though: David Bowie as Hannibal’s uncle, Count Robert Lecter. Can you even imagine?

Photo via NBC/Hannibal