The third season of Hannibal – NBC and creator Bryan Fuller’s critically-acclaimed TV series – promises to blend together certain memorable elements from author Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon novel with a suspenseful cat and mouse chase narrative, as Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) pursues Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) across the pond, after the… unfriendly exchange between the pair (and the other dinner guests) that transpired at Dr. Lecter’s house in the show’s season two finale.

Fuller and his fellow writers shall also be exploring Hannibal’s past this season, though the members of the show’s creative think tank have made it clear: they’ll pick and choose the best parts to keep from Harris’ origin story, Hannibal Rising, and ignore the not so good parts (smart move, that…). One such important character from Rising who will, in fact, appear on Hannibal season three is that of Lady Murasaki; her assistant (The Wolverine‘s Tao Okamoto) can be spotted having a fireside chat with Will in the season three trailer, featured above.

Hannibal‘s third season is still a few months away so, unsurprisingly, the first trailer offers little more than hints of what’s to come: more gorgeous darkly-lit visuals and stylishly macabre imagery; Dr. Lecter and Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) as a very fashionable and refined pair of fugitives from justice; and Will continuing to step right into the line of fire, even with the fog of death and sorrow around him being thicker than ever.

In short: this season of Hannibal is poised to provide dedicated “Fan-ibals” with even more of what they love about the show, all while mixing things up in new and exciting ways.

Among other things, the over-arching storyline for Hannibal season three is expected to either partly/fully explore the Red Dragon narrative – and set up for an exploration of more familiar serial killer story territory in season four (should it get one). The Hobbit film trilogy alum Richard Armitage will be making his debut as the serial killer Francis Dolarhyde (a.k.a. The Tooth Fairy) from Red Dragon, during the second half of the season ahead. So, even after Will catches up with Dr. Lecter, his problems will be far from over…

Hannibal season three will premiere on NBC in Summer 2015.