Popverse's top stories of the day

• Marvel Studios' Avengers Tower has a new name, and with it comes a darker meaning for the MCU
• MEMBERS ONLY: Watch NBC's Hannibal reunion panel with Mads Mikkelsen & Hugh Dancy from Seattle's ECCC 2025
• Everything we've seen, done, played, and bought at Seattle's Emerald City Comic Con 2025 (so far)

Hannibal the Conqueror was a Carthaginian general who led his forces during the Second Punic War.

Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a serial killer who eats people.

They don’t have a lot in common aside from their names, but that didn’t stop Mads Mikkelsen from mixing the two up. In fact, when he was approached for the show Hannibal, he thought it was about the Punic War general.

“In the beginning I got a few scripts called Hannibal,” Mikkelsen recalls during the Hannibal reunion panel at Emerald City Comic Con 2025. “I didn’t read them for a while because I was busy. And I honestly thought it was Hannibal the Conqueror. So, I was like, ehh…sandals and soot in a TV show. And then I read it, and I was like, ‘What is this? What is going on here.’”

Mikkelsen became intimidated when he realized it was Hannibal Lecter, the iconic fictional serial killer who Anthony Hopkins had turned into a household name.

“I got nervous, more so than Hugh [Dancy], because these are giant shoes to wear. Anthony Hopkins, right? But it was a different animal as a TV show. Completely different feel and tone to it.”

A conversation with showrunner Bryan Fuller and news that his co-star would be Hugh Dancy were enough to sway Mikkelsen.

“After eight hours of Bryan talking on me, I was like, ‘I’ll do it.’ And then obviously I knew that Hugh was on board, whether I got the part or not. So, I was really pleased to work with Hugh again.”

Still, I can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like to have Mads Mikkelsen in a Hannibal the Conqueror TV show.

You can watch A Taste for the Unforgettable: Hannibal Reunion with Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy from ECCC 2025's Main Stage powered by Xfinity for yourself as part of Popverse's all-encompassing coverage of Emerald City Comic Con 2025. Be there from anywhere.

Here's Hannibal Lecter franchise in order: How to watch the movies and TV shows | Popversehttps://www.thepopverse.com/hannibal-lecter-watch-how-to-order-silence-of-the-lambs-movies-shows-in-order.