Tom Hardy set to play Hannibal Lecter-type serial killer in new 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 has stated that the 45-year-old British actor will be one of the big names attached to the streamer's latest project, Lazarus, a crime thriller show adapted from the best-selling Joona Linna book series by Lars Kepler. The publication compared the TV project 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). In terms of Lazarus' plot, Deadline said the show will involve an emaciated young man who is found wandering along a train track 13 years after he and his sister went missing, with both presumed to be victims of the notorious serial killer Jurek Walter, played by Hardy. As part of efforts to try and 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. The series is set to be written, executive produced and directed by Øystein Karlsen, who is considered one of Norway's most sought-after TV writers after having helmed such acclaimed works as Dag and Exit, while providing directorial duties for Netflix's crime thriller Lilyhammer. Lazarus is said to be still nearing development and closing deals, so there is no word of a release date as of yet. For Hardy, who has spent years heading up the Venom franchise, the show would see the Oscar-nominee return to television following his lead turn in 2017's Taboo and his supporting role in smash-hit Peaky Blinders. 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 Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Michael Shannon. Related links:

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