Once you get done playing one of the creepiest villains of the year in one of TV”s darkest dramas, there’s nowhere to go but brighter pastures, right? Not for True Detective actor Glenn Fleshler, who ended up moving on to ABC’s “the dead are alive again” drama Resurrection. So what yuk-worthy series is he heading to next? Why, NBC’s Hannibal, of course. Spoilers ahead for the acclaimed horror drama.
Big things are happening for Hannibal’s upcoming Season 3, including a change in cast for the pig-owning meat market magnate Mason Verger, as actor Michael Pitt left the show after Season 2 and was replaced by The Divide’s Joe Anderson. And it’s at Verger’s side where Fleshler will be found, for he has been cast as Verger’s assistant Dr. Cordell Doemling, according to TVLine.
As Dr. Cordell, Fleshler will be Verger’s right hand man, and probably his mouthpiece, since Verger’s mouth is kind of in ruins following his self-mutilation under Hannibal’s guidance. Cordell will be rather soft-spoken, creepy and very smart, and here’s a more precise description.
Attentive and gentle with Mason. He’s a professional who cares about his work, but we get a sense he might be as sadistic as his boss – and a perfect fit to become his potential henchman.
That’s totally understandable, as Verger is assumedly going to want to bring about major revenge against Hannibal for making him look like a paper mâché skeleton. And it’ll help if he has a big hulking assistant to do his dirty deeds for him. (I mean, his name is FLESHler, for crying out loud.) You might recall that in the film Hannibal, actor Zeljko Ivanek played Cordell, though I’m sure we can expect things to play out a little differently in Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller’s vision.
Fleshler is the latest of several exciting new cast members added to Hannibal in recent weeks. Richard Armitage joined the show to play the iconic victim-biting killer Francis “The Tooth Fairy” Dolarhyde, and Rutina Wesley signed on to play the blind Reba McClane, Dolarhyde’s co-worker and love interest. And then there’s Nina Arianda, who will play Molly Graham, who shows up as Will’s wife when the series jumps forward in time at one point in the season.
Beyond playing the lawnmower-riding madman in True Detective, Fleshler is also recognizable from stints on Boardwalk Empire, Damages and Delocated. He appeared in an October episode of Cinemax’s The Knick and can currently be seen in theaters in J.C. Chandor’s crime drama A Most Violent Year.
Hannibal will make its return to NBC this summer. Make sure to “cook yourself” a nice dinner to celebrate.
