NBC's Hannibal, now on its third season, is a loose adaptation of Hannibal and Red Dragon novels by Thomas Harris. The two novels have been adapted into films in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Both these movies garneted critical acclaim so the challenge for the Bryan Fuller series is to at least match those accolades. So far, Hannibal is doing a great job on TV. It earned several nominations and awards including Best Television Network series from Saturn Awards, Best TV Horror Series from IGN, and Best Drama Series from Ewwy Award.
Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal Lecter) and Hugh Dancy (Will Graham) are doing an epic job portraying the lead roles. Same goes for Laurence Fishburne (playing Jack Crawford) and Caroline Dhavernas (playing Dr. Alana Bloom). With the way they portray the characters that did big in the big screen, it is hard to pinpoint any differences. One character though is very much different to the ones people saw in films simply because of the fact that the gender of the one in Hannibal TV series is different from the one in the big screen. Freddie Lounds, the determined but questionable journalist who will do everything to get something sensational to write. This character has been portrayed by three different people. That last one though is very unique. Stephen Lang played the role in 1986 Manhunter and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in the 2022 hit Hannibal.
In NBC's version, it is surprisingly being portrayed by Lara Jean Chorostecki. According to the novel, Freddie is someone who is "lumpy and ugly and small" with "buck teeth." How did it happen that the journalist turned into a long-haired beautiful petite woman?
Chorostecki sat down for an interview with Mania.com and there, she insisted that the difference is never an issue for her.
"For me, it wasn't really an issue because my version [of the character] is so different. Bryan Fuller had outlined how we were going to take her in a slightly more sophisticated vein, and that already in itself takes me away from Hoffman's and Lang's versions. And I really think the gender switch gave me so much freedom to kind of recreate her. If I was male playing another male version of that character, it would perhaps be a lot of pressure considering those versions were so fantastic but being female and taking her in a more sophisticated but no less ruthless way made it a lot easier."
In the books, Freddie Lounds was killed off by immolation. Will it happen in the series. Well, let's wait for more Hannibal Season 3 spoiler. Chorostecki is also doing a great work in portraying Lounds and fans clamor that Lounds should stay a little longer in the show. The Hannibal Lara Jean Chorostecki experiment is a good gamble, after all.
