With HBO's True Blood coming to an end last summer, Rutina Wesley, longtime cast member of the Southern supernatural series, is lined up for another horror show. This time around, though, Wesley will encounter human monsters rather than creatures of the night, as she's set to join the cast of Hannibal for the third season, playing a character from Thomas Harris' Red Dragon and its two film adaptations.
TVLine reports that Rutina Wesley, whom True Blood fans know as Tara Mae Thornton, is set to co-star in Hannibal Season 3 in the recurring role of Reba McClane, a blind woman who becomes the romantic interest of Francis Dolarhyde, aka The Tooth Fairy serial killer, who in turn will be played by Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit films). Reba McClane is a key character in Thomas Harris' 1981 novel, Red Dragon, and was previously played by Joan Allen in 1986's Manhunter and Emily Watson in 2002's Red Dragon.
In other, previously announced Hannibal Season 3 casting news, it was recently revealed that Tony award-winning Nina Arianda (Broadway’s Venus in Fur, Rob the Mob, Midnight in Paris) will play the recurring character of Molly. Readers of Red Dragon and viewers of the identically titled film, as well as Manhunter, will recognize Molly as Will Graham's wife (previously played by Kim Greist in Manhunter and Mary-Louise Parker in Red Dragon). With the eventual time jump of Hannibal Season 3, Will (Hugh Dancy) shall be married to the strong and thoughtful Molly.
Joe Anderson (The Grey, The Ruins) is also joining the cast of Hannibal, replacing Michael Pitt as the villainous Mason Verger after Pitt decided to drop out of the role, likely due to a busy schedule.
Season 3 of Hannibal premieres on NBC this summer and will feature Gillian Anderson as a series regular in the role of Dr. Bedelia du Maurier, Hugh Dancy as Will Graham, and, of course, Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, along with many more names both old and new.
In case you missed it, check out Jemma’s Season 3 preview interview with the cast and producers of Hannibal:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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