Tom Hardy will be Hannibal Lecter-type serial killer in new Apple TV series

Things are about to get bloody!

Tom Hardy is reportedly set to star in a grizzly serial killer tale coming to Apple TV+ where he will take on a Hannibal Lecter-type role. Deadline reports that the 45-year-old Brit will be one of the big names attached to the streamer's latest project, Lazarus, a grizzly serial killer tale adapted from the New York Times bestseller. The publication compared the series to The Silence of the Lambs, with Hardy in a Hannibal Lecter-esque role against an undercover police detective played by Joker's Zazie Beetz (the Clarice Starling of it all). Lazarus is based on the Joona Linna book series by Lars Kepler, which has been lauded by such outlets as The New York Times, Washington Post and EW, selling more than 17 million copies worldwide. The novels centre on that protagonist, a leading detective who tracks down the most nightmarish of murderers. In the series, an emaciated young man is found wandering along a train track. Thirteen years earlier, he and his sister went missing, presumed victims of the notorious serial killer Jurek Walter, played by Hardy. To find the sister, detective Saga Bauer (Beetz) goes undercover in the maximum-security psychiatric hospital where Walter has been kept since his arrest years ago. Deadline suggested Walter and Bauer what have a relationship similar akin to Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling. The series is set to be written, executive produced and directed by Øystein Karlsen, considered one of Norway's most sought-after TV writers, having helmed such acclaimed works as Dag and Exit, while providing directorial duties for Netflix's crime thriller Lilyhammer. For Hardy, who has spent years of heading up the Venom franchise, it will be his first TV series since the Oscar-winner starred in 2017's Taboo, though he has narrated a handful of docuseries in the meantime. The actor is also due to star in Gareth Evans' action thriller Havoc this year for Netflix, described as a detective story set in the criminal underworld, and in Jeff Nichols' ensemble drama The Bikeriders alongside Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Michael Shannon. Related links:

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