Entertainment

Hannibal Lecter Finally Has A Worthy Successor Thanks To Apple TV's New Crime Thriller

Nairavoice · Nov 7, 2026 · 8 min read

Dani Kessel Odom (they/them) is an autistic lead writer and TV critic who covers sci-fi shows like Doctor Who and Pluribus, fantasy shows like The Magicians and Percy Jackson, and horror of all kinds. They also cover Marvel and DC TV shows and movies, with a robust knowledge of comic books. Their TV reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dani is also part of ScreenRant’s books team, using their fiction writing and literature studies as the backbone for their book analyses.

They have covered events, such as the Denver Fan Expo. Professionals in the field, such as Damien Leone and Lucy Hale, have shared their articles. Their review of Ponies was quoted in the show’s TV trailer.

In university, they majored in English Writing with a minor in psychology. They have always had a passion for analyzing TV and movies, even taking filmography and scriptwriting classes in university. They also studied and participated in onstage and onscreen acting extensively from the ages of 7 to 18.

Aside from working at Screen Rant, Dani has worked as a freelance editor and writer over the past decade, often in a ghostwriting capacity.

Apple TV’s hit new crime thriller has finally offered up a worthy successor to the iconic cannibal Hannibal Lecter. Few crime thriller antagonists have inspired as much lasting fascination as Hannibal, introduced in Thomas Harris’ 1981 book Red Dragon. Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of the sophisticated villain in The Silence of the Lambs defined the character, but five actors have portrayed Hannibal Lecter. He keeps coming back to the screen time and time again because he’s the ultimate contradiction. The serial killer combines high-class sophistication and cultural taste with a frightening brutality.

Most of the other memorable onscreen psychological thriller bad guys predate the psychiatrist cannibal. Iconic villains Norman Bates from Psycho and Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest came out 21 and 6 years before Harris’ first novel, respectively. Almost all of those who have come since Hannibal Lecter don’t quite feel like spiritual successors. The most worthy candidate is Johan Liebert in the anime Monster, who has that same gravitas and intellect. Unfortunately, only anime fans know who he is. However, one natural successor, Jurek Walter from Apple TV’s Nocturne, finally lives up to the “spiritual successor” title.

The Hannibal Lecter and Jurek Walter comparisons started long before the latter hit the screen. Nocturne adapts the 2012 and 2018 Nordic noirs The Sandman and Lazarus by Lars Kepler. Like Hannibal, Jurek Walter has real-life inspirations, even if he isn’t based on a single serial killer. Now that he’s on screen, played by Stephen Graham, every Hannibal fan needs to discover the villain first-hand. As I stated in my review of Nocturne for ScreenRant, Graham’s Jurek is the single best part of the psychological thriller, and he certainly lives up to the “spiritual successor” crown.

Stephen Graham’s Jurek Walter Uses Politeness & Lilting Voice As A Tool For Master Manipulation

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    Courtesy of Apple TV</figure>

Nocturne starts when a teen boy named Michael, a suspected victim of Jurek Walter, shows up alive three years after his disappearance. The problem is, Jurek has been deemed criminally insane and resides in a psychiatric facility. Detective Jonah Lynn returns to the case, determined to find Michael’s sister Felicia and figure out how the manipulative serial killer is controlling the situation from inside Riverside Psychiatric Hospital. While their stories are very different, Hannibal Lecter and Jurek Walter feel like kindred souls.

One of the things that makes Hannibal so chilling is that he doesn’t seem like a killer. He’s deeply charismatic. He’s polite, intelligent, observant, and cultured. He’s a polyglot. Hannibal acts very still and calm. Rather than acting chaotically and impulsively, he calculates everything he says and does beforehand. He notices small details nobody else picks up on, like the smell of Evyan skin cream on Clarice. Jurek Walter is a little different in that he looks like he could murder someone with his bare hands, as Stephen Graham transformed his appearance for the role. Yet, his behavior is uncannily similar to Hannibal.

When Gold Derby asked Stephen Graham about his favorite version of Hannibal Lecter, he said, “Both Brian [Cox] and Anthony [Hopkins] were magnificent. I remember seeing Manhunter with my dad when it first came out and just going, ‘Wow.’ So to be compared to those two people means a hell of a lot.”

Jurek Walter is ridiculously smart and has an almost unnatural stillness and steadiness. He’s courteous with his nurses, staying stable even when they’re disrespectful towards him. Thanks to his keen observational skills, he notices that Karl bought a guitar from the calluses on two of his fingers, and he smells alcohol on a police officer. He seems to home in on these details others overlook. He learns the police officer’s wife’s name, similar to how Hannibal learns about the senator’s daughter. The two villains share even more behavioral traits that viewers will discover in future weekly episodes.

However, Jurek’s most powerful ability is his vocal control, which sets him apart from Hannibal Lecter. The fictional serial killer speaks with a soft, lilting voice in a childlike register that doesn’t seem to fit the body. He gets even breathier and speaks in his head voice when interacting with Karl, which makes him seem innocent and in need of protection. Of course, he knows that Karl wants to feel needed, like he’s capable of making life better for vulnerable individuals. He uses that to his advantage.

Much of this comes from the source material, but the character’s physicality and persona were also intentional choices Graham made, as he shared with Entertainment Weekly. He suggested to director Tim Van Patten that Jurek meditate, giving him that eerie stillness. He also developed this deeply manipulative voice and chameleon quality with the help of a vocal and acting coach. Ultimately, his efforts paid off.

The Serial Killer Convinces Others To Act Against Their Own Best Interests

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    Courtesy of Apple TV</figure>

Another defining characteristic of nearly every version of Hannibal Lecter is his ability to convince others to do his bidding. In The Silence of the Lambs, he gets whispers at his cellmate, Multiple Miggs, getting in his head and convincing him to swallow his tongue. In the 2001 movie Hannibal, he convinces Paul Krendler to eat his own sautéed brain, and Red Dragon shows him using the phone and letters to manipulate The Tooth Fairy.

The NBC version of the character alters Will’s memories through psychic driving, convincing him he’s becoming a serial killer. Bedelia tells Will, “Has he ever tried to persuade you to kill anybody? He will, and it will be somebody you love. And you will think it’s the only choice you have.” The Nocturne protagonist has the same ability to control others’ actions.

In the first few episodes of the psychological thriller, Jurek Walter manages to convince three different people to do what he wants, even though it’s against their best interests. The first instance we see is the cold open of episode 1. He whispers into the toilet drain to the man in the cell next to him, convincing him to slam his head into the wall so hard that he dies, the equivalent of what Hannibal does to Miggs.

Jurek’s former nurse reveals that he got him to bring him candy bars and lemon slices, even though it could cost him his job. Those are seemingly minor actions. However, small things can have major consequences, as seen in the Karl situation. The serial killer gets close to Karl, his nurse, and uses that friendliness in his favor.

He gets Karl to unknowingly pass a letter to his accomplice, saying it’s for his lawyer, and bring him Vaseline for his self-inflicted injuries, which he collects in a Jell-O cup. The first is a crime in the Nocturne world, and it lets Jurek control situations on the outside. The latter could get him fired, and Jurek’s clearly collecting the Vaseline for a reason that remains unknown as of Nocturne episode 3. He hasn’t quite gotten to the severity of making Karl kill someone or eat his brain, but the increasing behaviors could eventually get to a dangerous point.

Jurek Walter’s Serial Killer M.O. Takes Sick & Twisted To A Whole New Level

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    Courtesy of Apple TV</figure>

Hannibal Lecter and Jurek Walter commit crimes in different ways, but they both have extremely disturbing and distinctive ways of killing people. Of course, we all know what Hannibal the Cannibal’s crime is. It’s an absolutely revolting crime, driven by his past trauma, and he views it as a way of punishing rude people or those who offend his intellect. Hannibal makes sure he leaves no evidence behind.

Jurek Walter kidnaps people and buries them in a box with a tube, a little bit of food, and water. This allows the victims to suffer and experience psychological torture as they starve and dehydrate to death. The modus operandi suggests that he cares about their suffering. If he didn’t, it would make more sense for him to kill them in an easier, faster way. He is equally skilled at leaving no evidence behind.

The fact that Jurek Walter isn’t a cannibal is refreshing, as the two have so many other blatant similarities. It’s good to have elements like his hulking physicality and murder methods that make him feel fresh. As viewers watch weekly episodes of Nocturne, they’ll find more motivations and personality quirks that make him unique. Still, there’s no doubt that Jurek Walter is the natural spiritual successor to Hannibal Lecter.