CBS has released the first full-length trailer for Clarice, which is The Silence of the Lambs sequel series. The psychological horror premieres Thursday, February 11th, and fans of the original movie and Thomas Harris' 1988 novel have been waiting a long to time to see what Clarice Starling has been up to after her initial encounter with the diabolical cannibal Doctor Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill. With that being said, the CBS series does not have the rights to the name Hannibal Lecter, so they can't directly reference the character.

Clarice is a deep dive into the untold personal story of FBI Agent Clarice Starling as she returns to the field in 1993, one year after the events of Silence of the Lambs. Brilliant and at time vulnerable, Clarice's bravery gives her an inner light that draws monsters and madmen to her. However, her complex psychological makeup that comes from a challenging childhood empowers her to begin to find her voice while working in a man's world, as well as escape the family secrets that have haunted her throughout her life.

As teased in the first Clarice trailer, this new footage introduces Senator-turned-Attorney General Ruth Martin, who can be seen persuading Clarice Starling to come back to work. Clarice is clearly still struggling with the fame and notoriety that the Buffalo Bill case brought to her, while dealing with the demons of her childhood. The series looks complex and dark, which should hopefully satisfy The Silence of the Lambs fans. With that being said, there is a lot of pressure to create something that can standalone from the success of the classic 1991 movie.

Clarice stars Rebecca Breeds as Clarice Starling, Michael Cudlitz as Paul Krendler, Lucca de Oliveira as Tomas Esquivel, Kal Penn as Shaan Tripathi, Nick Sandow as Agent Clarke, Devyn Tyler as Ardelia Mapp, and Marnee Carpenter as Catherine Martin. In January 2020, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet were hired by CBS to create a sequel series to the 1991 movie The Silence of the Lambs. While the public health crisis put a damper on the show's development, CBS still picked it up in May 2020, as they figured out a way to work around the pandemic.

While some may think that not using Hannibal Lecter in the series was a challenge, Alex Kurtzman looked at it from the opposite perspective. "I'm still trying to understand how the rights are divided. But it's been quite liberating because we have no interest in writing about Hannibal-not because we didn't love the films and the show, but because it was done so well by so many people that it didn't feel fresh for us," he said. Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet, Elizabeth Klaviter, and Heather Kadin are executive producers on Clarice for MGM Television and CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout. You can check out the first full-length trailer for Clarice above, thanks to the official CBS YouTube channel.