‘Clarice’: CBS ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Series Sets February Premiere Date

CBS’ new Silence of the Lambs series, Clarice, has a premiere date at last. The thriller-drama will begin on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 10 p.m. ET, immediately following Star Trek’s season finale: Discovery. Fans of the classic horror film, its spin-offs and the novels it is based on will want to save that date.

Clarice tells the story of FBI Agent Clarice Starling from a more personal, in-depth perspective. According to CBS, the show picks up one year after The Silence of the Lambs’ events, set in the year 1993. It finds Clarice returning to fieldwork after some time away and making sense of her strengths and weaknesses on the job. The lead role will be played by Rebecca Breeds, filling the shoes of Jodie Foster from the original movie. CBS also released the very first teaser for the show on Tuesday.

According to the press release, “Clarice’s bravery gives her an inner light that draws monsters and madmen to her.” At the same time, she will really be reckoning with her own psychology and her troubled past, including “the family secrets that have haunted her throughout her life.” She must also “find her voice while working in a man’s world.”

Other characters returning from the original movie include Paul Krendler — played by Ron Vawter in the original and by Michael Cudlitz here — Adrelia Mapp — originally played by Kasi Lemmons, and here played by Devyn Tyler — and Catherine Martin — originally played by Brooke Smith, and now played by Marnee Carpenter. Newcomers include Lucca de Oliveira as Tomas Esquivel, Kal Penn as Shaan Tripathi and Nick Sandow as Agent Clarke.

So far, there is no word on any possible appearances by Hannibal Lecter himself or other infamous serial killers included in The Silence of the Lambs franchise. The original movie was famous in part for the performance of Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist who was a cannibalistic serial killer already behind bars. Subsequent spin-offs have explored Hannibal’s past, his development and his imprisonment. However, none have delved much more deeply into Clarice’s life — the true star of the film.

Clarice is co-created and executive produced by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet. Kurtzman is best known for co-writing scripts for movies like Transformers (2007), Star Trek (2009) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). Lumet is best-known for writing the screenplay for Rachel Getting Married and later worked on some Star Trek projects where Kurtzman was co-producing. Lumet finished her tenure on Star Trek: Discovery as a co-executive producer.

Clarice premieres on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. If you want to brush up before then, The Silence of the Lambs is streaming for free on YouTube and Amazon Video. The prequel Red Dragon is streaming on Netflix, as is the series Hannibal. The source material novels by Thomas Harris are available in print, digital and audio formats wherever books are sold.