NBC Bumps Season 3 of HANNIBAL to Summer

NBC is pushing its critically-beloved drama HANNIBAL to this summer, the network confirmed at today's TCA event, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The series, which typically airs midseason, has never been able to nail down a large audience, despite its roots in the famed horror classic SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and its follow-up films.

"It's a show we love, it's critically acclaimed, we love it," NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt said. "And we also love summer. We have exciting plans for summer."

The dark and haunting series "Hannibal" returned for a second season in 2014, with more shocking revelations and games of psychological cat and mouse. Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) is locked in a mental asylum accused of HANNIBAL Lecter's crimes (Mads Mikkelsen). Now that Will sees HANNIBAL for what he truly is, he faces a fight to prove his own sanity and convince those closest to him he is innocent of murder. Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) is dealing with his own feelings about Will, and whether his protégé is in fact a cold-blooded killer. Looking for answers, Jack turns to Hannibal, a man he has come to trust. With Will locked up, HANNIBAL becomes Jack's new consultant on cases. HANNIBAL is torn between self-preservation and his desire to keep Will close to him, despite advice from his psychiatrist, Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson), to stay away.

The deadly dance between these characters continues to turn in startling and unexpected ways, in a season that will show nothing can ever be the same again.