1991’s The Silence of the Lambs remains a masterclass in horror. The serial killer psychological thriller is full of great performances, fantastic imagery and packed with incredibly tense moments. At the core of the movie is the compelling relationship between Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling and Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter, one of the all-time iconic cinematic double acts. Now, CBS is hoping to capture at least half of that lightning in Clarice.
From The Resident showrunner Elizabeth Klaviter, the series sees Rebecca Breeds stepping into the title role to follow Clarice’s FBI career two years on from the Buffalo Bill case. Set in 1993, we’re going to watch her pursuing further serial killers, processing the lingering fallout of her most notorious case and dealing with political forces that’d like to see certain things covered up. The show premieres later this week and to get us hyped, NBC released a couple of Super Bowl TV spots last night to whet our appetites.
The best was “Trying to Save the Lamb,” which dramatizes Starling’s famous monologue that gives the 1991 movie its title and provides her motivation for protecting others and serving justice. It’s way too soon to jump to conclusions about the show itself, but the tone seems right and Breeds definitely physically resembles Jodie Foster in the early 90s.
One factor that may give fans pause is that Hannibal Lecter cannot appear – or even be mentioned – in Clarice. The rights to Thomas Harris’ books are split between companies, with the characters and events from Silence of the Lambs owned by CBS and the Lecter novels (Red Dragon, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising) by NBC and the Dino De Laurentiis Company. It remains to be seen whether the absence of the franchise’s most compelling villain will harm Clarice, but I’m prepared to give it a fair shake when it premieres on Thursday, February 11 at 10/9c.