Exclusives
Don Mancini Has Been Writing and Producing “Hannibal”!
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.
Stephen Graham Jones is one of those horror literature names you know, even if you’re not that into horror literature.
The author of The Only Good Indians, My Heart is a Chainsaw, and dozens of other entries in the modern horror canon has built a reputation for two things: Chilling fiction and a jaw-droppingly prolific output, and today we can exclusively reveal the next story he’s unleashing on readers.
On March 9, 2027, Jones and Saga Press will release Ears, a new haunted house horror novella about a down-on-his-luck man who finds an unlucky ally in the ghost of a child in footie pajamas, complete with bunny ears on top.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“Mr. Morning Gun, the hapless narrator of this first person novella, is a disgraced history teacher who now is an unhoused person who is largely living within his electric car and the empty homes he looks after for local real estate agencies in a specific way: He flushes the empty houses toilets to keep, primarily, the wax seals on the toilets fresh, and the plumbing flowing. For this he gets a bit of money under table. One day, at “The Messner House” he gets caught by an aggressive realtor having a tryst, and the ghost of the previous owners’ missing child intervenes, killing the couple, and saving the former teacher and he finds himself embroiled into an ever-increasing layer of cover-ups as the girl in the lavender footie pajamas keeps killing folks to keep the house empty, except for him.”
What inspired a story like this? For Jones, it began with something very practical, which quickly morphed into a new expression of horror.
“I was wondering if the chargers for electric cars are universal or not, but didn’t know how to phrase a search to figure that out, so I had to figure it out the only way I know how: with a story—with horror,” Jones told Bloody Disgusting. “With, as it turned out, a haunted house. So, now I know that they probably are universal. And that that leads to… to bad things.”
Bloody Disgusting is pleased to exclusively reveal the haunting cover for Ears, designed by Luisa Dias.
Ears is the latest entry in Jones’ always-busy publishing schedule, which includes a new novel, Off the Reservation, arriving this fall from Saga. Beginning next spring, Saga will also reissue three of Jones’ earlier horror works for a new generation of readers, delivering new editions of Demon Theory, The Last Final Girl, and Growing Up Dead In Texas.
Those reissues don’t have firm release dates yet, but you can expect Ears to arrive on March 9, 2027.
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