As the series moves towards its conclusion, I’ve become more and more of a rabid “Hannibal” fan. Somehow it finds a way to get exponentially better with each passing episode, and now the Red Dragon story arc has taken the series to new heights.

A few weeks ago, something caught my eye that caused a double-take. During the opening credits I noticed that Don Mancini had written the episode, as well as produced it.

For the younger readers, Mancini is the creator/writer of Child’s Play *, who went on to direct Seed of Chucky, as well as the 2013 Curse of Chucky.

Now, he’s become part of “Hannibal’s” history having co-wrote episode 306 (“Dolce”) and 310 (“…and the Woman Clothed in Sun”), and produced episodes 305-313.

This was such a huge deal to me, as a Mancini fan, that I reached out to find out a bit more about his involvement in Bryan Fuller’s chilling NBC series.

Mancini, also a huge fan of “Hannibal”, told us that he contacted Fuller about joining the writing team.

“I joined the writers’ room slightly late, after basically writing a fan letter to Bryan Fuller, whom I had never met, but of whom I’d always been a huge fan,” Mancini tells Bloody Disgusting. “We followed each other on Twitter, so I knew he was a Chucky fan, and figured that he might be receptive to hearing from me. A friend of mine named Michael Kessler, an associate producer on HANNIBAL since season 1, knew how much I loved the show and urged me to contact Bryan about writing and producing on it. I’d never made an overture that pushy in my life, and I certainly didn’t expect anything to come of it. But I wrote Bryan, told him what a big Fannibal I was. We met — and lo and behold, I found myself in the HANNIBAL writers’ room with a group of exceptionally talented people.”

Mancini went on to explain how lucky feels to be part of something so special, and how he considers Thomas Harris’ series to be his “Star Wars.”

“It’s been one of the most amazing experiences of my career. I love working in TV and hope to do more of it. (My only other TV experience was a one-off TALES FROM THE CRYPT episode for HBO.) HANNIBAL was, to say the least, a unique and special experience, to work on such an amazing show — one of the best on TV — for my first time on a series in an ongoing capacity. I knew how lucky I was, and how spoiled I was getting by the experience. The world created by Thomas Harris has always been my STAR WARS or LORD OF THE RINGS: I’ve read all the books and seen all the films countless times. It’s literally one of my favorite, touchstone mythologies. And then, to see how Bryan put his own unique spin on it. It’s been a huge pleasure participating in his vision.”

For those of you who quit on “Hannibal” because of news that NBC had canceled it, you’re doing yourself a disservice. “Hannibal” is by far one of the most intense and thrilling series I have ever seen. I didn’t think Fuller and co. could top Season 2, but somehow they have found a way to propel “Hannibal” to new television heights that will go down in the lore of horror history as one of the greatest genre shows of all time. It’s insanely cool to know that Don Mancini is a part of it.

“Hannibal” airs Saturday nights on NBC.

*For those who are wondering, the seventh Child’s Play film is still in early stages at Universal.