Mads Mikkelsen WON'T return to TV - unless it's for Hannibal 

Mads Mikkelsen would settle for nothing less than a role akin to Dr Lecter

Express.co.uk, the 50-year-old star of both the big and small screens explained how the calibre of the psychological horror series has raised the bar too high for him to consider further TV work.

Although, he admitted he would consider another project, as long as it is of the same quality.

"It\'s hard to go back to TV when you\'ve done something as complete as Hannibal," he said. "It was everything I could dream of in a role. I\'m going back to film until something as radical comes up, which may very well be more Hannibal."

The actor divulged that the show - which was shockingly cancelled last year after a three season run - could indeed make a return on another network at some point, despite speculation that it is over for good.

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I\'m going back to film until something as radical comes up, which may very well be more Hannibal

Mikkelsen candidly assured he and the cast would happily reprise their roles - and that they were simply waiting on the show\'s creator, Bryan Fuller, to see if he wanted to make more episodes.

The character of Dr Lecter was made famous by Anthony Hopkins in the original movie Silence of the Lambs and its sequel, Hannibal, in 2001. Such an iconic character would surely be a daunting task for a new actor to take on, but TV opens an array of opportunity not granted by films, Mikkelsen explained.

"Yes, it was intimidating. These were very big shoes to fill," the actor said. "One thing that worked in our favour was that it was a TV show. Anthony actually only had 14 miniutes of screen time in Silence of the Lambs, and yet made such an impact.

"But on season one of the show, we had 13 episodes, so we could pace it down, try something else. TV is a very different animal. I was certainly inspired by Anthony. I would never have tried to copy him though. Through the show, the character was re-born. And the presentation of it was changed. The series was very beautiful, almost operatic. We took it out of the 80s."

Who would return, should Bryan Fuller take the show to a new channel?

The Hollywood actor also revealed that there were other actors under consideration for the role, although he wouldn\'t say who, out of respect for them. When he was approached to audition, co-star Hugh Dancy put in a good word for him.

"Then there was the whole thing of me not being British," Mikkelson recalled. "But according to the book, Hannibal is from Lithuania. He\'s not from Wales, he was scholared in France and Britain, but from Lithuania originally - as die hard fans will know - so I could get away with my funny accent!"

He is also known for his role as the first villain of the Daniel Craig James Bond series. In 2006\'s Casino Royale, he played Le Chiffre - the blood-crying, inhaler puffing terrorism financier, who is in fact the original Bond villain from Ian Fleming\'s first novel in the series.

Daniel Craig famously asked Mikkelsen who he\'d slept with to get the role. Recounting the story, Mikkelsen said: "I met Daniel at my last audition, dressed in a tuxedo. I was supposed to do one last scene with him but they were casting the girls as well, and he was very busy, the director was very busy, the girls were very busy. And they didn\'t have any time for me.

Gillian Anderson played Dr Bedelia Du Maurier, whose story ended brutally

"Who did you sleep with?" Mikkelsen reveals on-set Bond banter between him and Daniel Craig

"Apparently they had already made up their minds that I had the part, so they just said, \'welcome aboard\'. I said \'thank you\'. I thought they just meant \'welcome to the audition\', and because I looked so blank the director Martin Campbell elaborated, saying \'welcome aboard, you have the job\'. I was standing next to Daniel who was looking at me, and he said the famous quote - asking who I\'d slept with. He had been working for weeks to get the part of Bond, and couldn\'t believe it."

Campbell added the crying blood to the character because he wanted to give him an iconic feature, Mikkelsen explained. When asked if he thinks he has a reputation now for playing murderous characters, consequently being stuck with a certain image, the actor said: "You can\'t control your image, as people will always give you one."

Mikkelsen is currently in London as brand ambassador for XTB. Hannibal can be streamed on Amazon Prime now. 

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