NTSC USER

Gillian Anderson has joined the cast of NBC's Hannibal.



The Hannibal Lecter series - from Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller - stars Casino Royale's Mads Mikkelsen as the infamous cannibal and is loosely based on Robert Harris novel Red Dragon.

X-Files actress Anderson has now signed up for a multi-episode storyline in which she will play Hannibal's therapist, reports Entertainment Weekly.

"Every therapist needs their own head examined and we are ecstatic that Gillian Anderson has chosen Hannibal to mark her return to American television after 10 years to portray Dr Lecter's personal psychiatrist," Fuller said in a statement.

"Her intelligence and sophistication, not to mention her pedigree of ground-breaking TV, make her the perfect actress to match wits and psychological manipulations with one of the greatest villains of pop culture. I couldn't be more excited."

Mikkelsen previously teased that the show will be "quite bloody" with "a lot of gruesomeness".

"Hannibal is a thriller," he said. "It's something you can [only] get away with in American television... it's a big, big mind game."

Hannibal will also star Hugh Dancy as Lecter's FBI nemesis Will Graham, plus Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), Gina Torres (Suits) and Eddie Izzard (The Riches).

The series will premiere on NBC in early 2013.