‘Clarice’ CBS: How to Watch ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ Continuation Series Premiere Episode

The world of Hannibal Lecter is back on television, but the spotlight is not on the cannibal. Instead, the new CBS series Clarice focuses on the life of FBI Agent Clarice Starling after the events of The Silence of the Lambs. The show stars former Pretty Little Liars actress Rebecca Breeds in the title role, previously played by Jodie Foster on the big screen. The series debuts on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 10 p.m. ET and subsequent episodes will air on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET as well. Like most CBS shows, episodes will be available to stream after they air on CBS All Access, which will become Paramount+ on March 4.
Clarice was developed by Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Discovery) and Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married) as a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs. It begins in 1993, a year after the events of the film and novel by Thomas Harris. The show focuses on Clarise’s investigations of other serial killers and sexual predators while navigating politics in Washington, D.C. The main cast also includes Kal Penn (House), Nick Sandow (Orange Is the New Black), Michael Cudlitz (The Walking Dead), Devyn A. Tyler, Lucca De Oliveria, Michael Carpenter.

Although the show will include references to Buffalo Bill, the serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs, the Dr. Hannibal Lector character is nowhere to be found because of complicated rights issues between MGM and the Dino de Laurentiis Company. “I’m still trying to understand how the rights are divided,” Kurtzman told Entertainment Weekly in December. “But it’s been quite liberating because we have no interest in writing about Hannibal — not because we didn’t love the films and the show, but because it was done so well by so many people that it didn’t feel fresh for us.”

Nevertheless, Clarice is still a new addition to Harris’ Hannibal Lecter world and is the second TV series set in that universe. NBC aired Bryan Fuller’s critically acclaimed Hannibal from 2013 to 2015. (The Dino de Laurentiis Company was involved in that show, but is not involved in Clarice.) Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal in The Silence of the Lambs and the follow-ups Hannibal and Red Dragon. Unlike other projects in the franchise, Clarice will not be centered on a single serial killer. Instead, Clarice will feature an “entity that represents something that we deal with in our lives all the time,” Kurtzman told EW. He described the series as a “more expanded, nuanced, complicated, and topical version of a serial killer.”