Most people know Dr. Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs, but he got up to further gruesome adventures after the movie ended. While those who regularly consume novels were already familiar with Hannibal from Thomas Harris' books by 1991, it was The Silence of the Lambs movie that introduced the devilishly sophisticated cannibal serial killer to the masses. As played by Anthony Hopkins, Hannibal quickly became an iconic figure in pop culture, earning the veteran actor an Oscar and cementing him as a household name.
Directed by Jonathan Demme, and featuring terrific performances by Hopkins, Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford, and more, The Silence of the Lambs is deservedly considered one of the greatest movies ever made. While some try to sequester it into the "psychological thriller" category, seemingly away from the horror label, it's most certainly a horror film. After all, if a movie that contains two serial killers, multiple corpses, graphic murders, suits made out of human flesh, and part of a person's face getting bitten off, isn't horror, then what is?
While The Silence of the Lambs ended with Hannibal Lecter escaping custody and fleeing the U.S., that by no means was the end of his story, either onscreen or in print. Here's what happened to him after the credits rolled.
Silence of the Lambs: What Happened to Hannibal After the Movie
The only Hannibal Lecter story to be set after The Silence of the Lambs so far is Hannibal, first a novel by Thomas Harris in 1999, and then a film adaptation in 2001. The book and its filmed counterpart mostly share the same plot, with things diverging majorly near the end.
In the film, which more people are probably familiar with, Clarice gets mixed up with an attempt by rich child molester Mason Verger to get revenge on Hannibal after the not-so-good doctor manipulates him into horrifically mutilating himself. In the end, Verger is killed, and Hannibal escapes with Clarice. He forces Clarice to watch as he cooks and eats her FBI superior's brain, and when she later attempts to apprehend him with handcuffs as he kisses her, Hannibal escapes by injuring his own hand, then is shown flying away on a plane.
In the Hannibal book, things get weird. Really, really weird. After Hannibal carries Clarice away from Mason Verger's home - who in the book is killed by his sister Margot - he tries to brainwash her into believing she's his dead sister Mischa. It doesn't work, as Clarice is too headstrong to be convinced. However, she gives in to the always apparent sexual tension between them, first sharing the brain of her FBI boss Paul Krendler with Hannibal, then having sex with her former nemesis. The two then run away to Argentina. This ending is why many fans choose to dismiss the Hannibal book, feeling that Clarice and Hannibal becoming lovers is wildly out of character for both.