Mads Mikkelsen Picks His Favorite American TV—and It's Not What You'd Think
You'd think a guy like Mads Mikkelsen — international film star, full-time brooding enigma, part-time cannibal — would have strong opinions on television. Turns out... not really.
In an interview with HeyUGuys, the Hannibal star admitted he barely watches TV at all. "If I were into that world, I would know much more about it than I do," he said. "But I'm not as educated in TV as other people are. I rarely have the time."
This from the man who played one of the most stylish, unsettling, and critically acclaimed TV villains of the last decade. His performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in NBC's Hannibal (2013–2015) took a role that was already iconic — thanks to Anthony Hopkins — and turned it into something colder, sexier, and somehow... weirder. Critics loved it. So did fans. But Mads? He's not exactly lining up for a Netflix binge.
Still, when pressed, he did name a few American shows he's actually seen — and liked:
- Breaking Bad
- The Wire
- The Walking Dead
Safe bets, sure, but he doesn't pretend to be deep into the medium. "There are a lot of interesting people out there that, hopefully, one day I'll get called up by," he added — so he's not against doing more TV. He just hasn't since Hannibal ended in 2015.
It tracks. This is the same guy whose daughters had to explain to him who Rihanna was when he got offered a role in her Bitch Better Have My Money video. ("You're gonna be the bitch," they told him, and he said yes.)
Still, he gets why TV is having a moment.
"Right now, television can get away with things that films cannot get away with," he said. "On TV, we are as radical as can be. With TV, we've found a way how to make it better, tackle it better, instead of bowing to heritage."
And that's exactly what Hannibal did. It bent genre, rewrote structure, and turned murder scenes into high art. It wasn't just a crime show — it was dreamlike, nonlinear, and totally unhinged in the best way.
If Mads ever returns to television, it probably won't be for your typical police procedural. It'll have to be something weird. Something radical. Something where nobody has heard of Rihanna.
Until then, he's apparently fine not watching much of anything — and somehow, that makes perfect sense.