Richard Armitage Talks About His Time on Hannibal Playing A Serial Killer

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey star Richard Armitage recently sat down for an interview with ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian. The 45-year-old actor dished on what his experience was like in portraying a serial killer during his stint on the NBC series Hannibal.

When asked if he had any reservations on jumping into the role of a serial killer, Armitage said, “Actually quite the opposite, I was really into the books.”

“I guess ‘Snake Man’ kind of comes out of Dolarhyde,” he said. “I feel like his disgust with himself, you know, one of the inspirations for that character was that he was so uncomfortable in his own skin that part of the movement that came out of it was to do with that. I was kind of fascinated with somebody that is so dark but so disgusted with themselves.”

The role of Francis Dolarhyde, which Armitage recently took on, has previously been portrayed on screen by Ralph Fiennes. While the footage is there to study, Armitage said that he really wanted to make the character his own.

“To be honest I hadn’t seen either of [the Red Dragon movies]. I’d seen Manhunter, I hadn’t seen Ralph Fiennes. I hadn’t seen the second Red Dragon, and Manhunter was so far away it kind of faded in my memory and I deliberately didn’t revisit them. I have since, but I, what I did was I just used the novel and Brian Follows script as inspiration. So it was good, I think sometimes when things are so iconic it is hard to get them out of your head.”

Check out the full interview with Richard Armitage above.

Other significant roles for Richard Armitage include: Thorin Oakenshield in all three movies for The Hobbit, King Oleran in Alice Through the Looking Glass, and Heinz Kruger in Captain America: The First Avenger.

Hannibal explores the relationship between the iconic psychiatrist and his patient, a young FBI criminal profiler, who is haunted by his ability to empathize with the serial killers that he investigates. The series stars Hugh Dancy (Will Graham), Mads Mikkelsen (Dr. Hannibal Lecter), Caroline Dhavernas (Dr. Alana Bloom), and Laurence Fishbourne (Jack Crawford).

The hit NBC series first aired in 2013 and has been going for 3 seasons. Hannibal is produced by Dino De Laurentiis Company, Living Dead Guy Productions, AXN: Original X Production, and Gaumont International Television.

What did you think of Richard Armitage’s portrayal of the serial killer Francis Dolarhyde in the TV series Hannibal?