20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Hannibal
17. Other Book Characters Had Their Genders Swapped
Hannibal (the show) draws on Hannibal (the series of books) in a number of ways, with Bryan Fuller apparently given free reign to mix things up as and when he pleases. The series gives significantly larger roles to support cast members from the source material, including Dr Alan Bloom, Freddie Lounds and Paul Krendler.
If those names seem a little off, it's because both of those male characters were made female for the Hannibal TV show. Dr Alana Bloom is a potential love interest to Will Graham who was an older man in the book, while Freddie Lounds if a young woman blogger in the show instead of an overweight middle-aged tabloid reporter in the books.
Meanwhile Cynthia Nixon's character, Kade Prurnell, is an anagram of Paul Krendler, another character from the books who's a woman in the show. The use of an anagram (as opposed to just “feminising” to Pauline) is important, too, since Dr Lecter is shown to be rather fond of word games in all versions of the Hannibal character.