The actor will portray Jack Crawford, the head of the FBI's behavioral sciences unit. Fishburne won the Tony for Two Trains Running and received a Tony nomination for Thurgood. His many film and television credits include CSI, What's Love Got to Do With It? and Apoclapyse Now.

As previously reported, Broadway veteran Hugh Dancy will star as FBI agent Will Graham in the Hannibal series, which is based upon characters from the Thomas Harris novels, which include the titular Hannibal Lecter, to be portrayed on the series by Mads Mikkelsen.