A surprising casting change is underway for Hannibal Season 3.  Last year’s string of episodes for the most gorgeous show on television introduced the character of Mason Verger, with Michael Pitt wonderfully inhabiting the memorable role.  However, TV Line reports that Pitt has opted not to return for the show’s third season, forcing showrunner Bryan Fuller to recast the character.  The switch actually comes at a fairly opportune time, as last we saw Verger his face was in a rather…disheveled condition.  Joe Anderson (The Divide, The Grey) will be replacing Pitt and filling the role of Verger in the new season.  More after the jump.

The folks at TV Line add that Hannibal Season 3 will be introducing the recurring character of Cordell, a “quiet, very intelligent and definitely creepy” man who acts as the personal doctor to Verger, so that gives us a brief idea of where his character will be when things pick back up.

I thought Pitt’s performance was pretty spot on for the character, so I’m fairly disappointed by this news; I was really looking forward to seeing how his iteration of the character would develop.  Nevertheless, Hannibal is one of my favorite shows on television and I’m still eager to see where Fuller takes things in Season 3.  Besides, adding Gillian Anderson as a series regular for the new season makes things super interesting.

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