10 Movie Villains So Awesome They Ruined Their Franchise
4. Hannibal Lecter - The Silence Of The Lambs
In the Silence of the Lambs, cinema found one of the greatest movie villains of all time. No, not Buffalo Bill, the iconic Doctor Hannibal Lecter. In spite of the character's minimal screen time, audiences couldn't get enough, and a sequel was all but guaranteed. Ridley Scott's sequel briefly satiated fans' appetite (in spite of its ridiculous ending), but the character was far too popular to rest after that.
And so a prequel emerged (Red Dragon, previously adapted as Michael Mann's Mahunter), featuring an inexplicably older, fatter Hannibal, and a noticeably bored Anthony Hopkins. This film's faults didn't stop the character being further dragged through the wringer in the dire Hannibal Rising (a prequel which even series creator Thomas Harris had no interest in). It didn't stop until every element of mystery and unknowability had been dredged from the character, running the franchise into the ground.