David Tennant has played some baddies since leaving Doctor Who, but Hannibal Lecter would take the cake, surely.
Believe it or not, but the chianti-loving cannibal psychiatrist was among the roles David considered, according to a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“I met [Hannibal executive producer] Bryan Fuller a couple of times, and we talked about it,” he explained. “But I think they quite wisely chose Mads Mikkelsen, I think he was a perfect choice for it, and I think he did things with that character that I wouldn’t have managed, so I think the right man got the job.”
Now, don’t get us wrong. We love Mads in the role, but we can’t help but try to imagine David chowing down on one of his victims. Hmm. Nope. Can’t do it.
It wasn’t to be, of course. Hannibal premiered on NBC in 2013, a month after Broadchurch began, which starred David as Detective Inspector Alec Hardy alongside the regal Olivia Colman. And though Alec wasn’t a goodie per se, he’s hardly up there with Hannibal Lecter.
David has been playing the bad guy a lot recently, what with his role as Kilgrave in Netflix’s Jessica Jones, a rich serial killer in upcoming film Bad Samaritan, and the demon Crowley in the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett novel Good Omens.
It sounds as if it’s something we’re going to have to get used to. “There is something delicious about playing people that go to really dark corners of the human experience,” said David in the same interview. “I’m certainly not complaining!”
And neither are we.
Can you picture David as Hannibal?