Deadline reports just before the ongoing NBC panel for “Hannibal” that Raul Esparza, who portrays Dr. Frederick Chilton on the show (pictured below), will return in the third season despite being shot in the face.

In a discussion with creator Bryan Fuller, they also reveal that, as well as the return of old characters, there will be the introduction of various characters from Harris’ books that have not appeared on the show before. “There’s a run of episodes where we have quite a few cool characters coming from the literature,” the former Heroes producer and “Pushing Daisies” creator says. “So, in the second episode, we introduce Commander Apache, who was played by Giancarlo Giannini in the Ridley Scott film, in episode 3, we introduce Lady Murasaki and in episode 4, we introduce Cordell,” Fuller notes. “There’s going to be a lot of fun Easter eggs for those who are big fans of the books, knowing that those characters are going to be leaping from the page onto their television screen,” he adds with the hope that the show’s fans enjoy the process as much as the result.

In addition, those expecting to see the season end next year would be wrong in doing so. The site explains that season 3 of “Hannibal” is almost going to adopt the AMC model of splitting a season – a slight change of plans from how he first conceived the show. “We are on track with the original plan with the one exception of condensing what was to have been Season 3 and Season 4 all into one season now,” he says. “So, the first half of the season will have its finale that reaches a climax and wraps up that story in a great way, and then we start a new story, and then that will have its own climax at the end of the season,” the EP explains. “Two separate stories that’ll have two finales and so you get two seasons for the price of one.”

I hate when they spread a season out because it’s mostly about greed – and selling season packages twice – but it’s nice to have something to look forward to, especially something as sublime and delicious as “Hannibal”.