Anthony Hopkins won an Academy Award for playing Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs,” but he wishes he hadn’t portrayed the killer again in “Hannibal” and “Red Dragon.”
“I did it once,” Hopkins told TheWrap of his iconic role. “Made the mistake of doing it twice — three times. ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ is okay. It was a good film.”
Asked whether he would ever play Lecter again, Hopkins said simply, “No.” When asked why not, he expressed his regret at having made 2001 sequel, “Hannibal,” and 2002 prequel, “Red Dragon.”
Also Read: Why Starz Doesn't Want Its Own 'Making a Murderer'
He then added, “I don’t want to do that. Done with that.”
Hopkins spoke with TheWrap following a Television Critics Association panel for his upcoming Starz movie, “The Dresser,” in which he stars alongside Ian McKellen. The movie, adapted from a play by Ronald Harwood, premieres on Starz this summer.
The character of Hannibal Lecter was played most recently by Mads Mikkelsen in the NBC series “Hannibal,” which was canceled last year after three seasons.
Scene at TCA 2016 Winter Press Tour (Updating Photos)
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EPs Brad Simpson, Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson, co-EP Anthony M. Hemingway, Consultant Jeffrey Toobin, and actors Sarah Paulson, John Travolta and Cuba Gooding Jr. on stage for FX's "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" panel on Jan. 16
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Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys on stage for FX's "The Americans" panel on Jan. 16
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Jay Baruchel and Eric Andre on stage for FX's "Man Seeking Woman" panel on Jan. 16
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Creator/star Donald Glover on stage for FX's "Atlanta" panel on Jan. 16
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Co-creators/EPs Zach Galifianakis and Louis C.K. for FX's "Baskets" panel on Jan. 16
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FX CEO John Landgraf on stage during his executive session on Jan. 16
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Actors Rebecca Liddiard, Micahel Weston, Stephen Mangan, Co-Creator/EP David Hoselton, EP David Shore and Co-Creator/EP David Titcher on stage for Fox's "Houdini & Doyle" panel on Jan. 15
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Stars Vanessa Hudgens, Aaron Tveit and Julianne Hough on stage for Fox's "Grease: Live" panel on Jan. 15
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Actors James Earl, Charlie Saxton and Meaghan Rath on stage for Fox's "Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life" panel on Jan. 15
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EP Adam Anders, Host/Narrator Tyler Perry, EP Mark Bracco and EP/Creator Jacco Doornbos on stage for Fox's "The Passion" panel on Jan. 15
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Dilshad Vadsaria, Tim DeKay and Rob Kazinsky on stage for Fox's "Second Change" panel on Jan. 15
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Host Ryan Seacrest and judges Keith Urban and Jennifer Lopez on stage for Fox's "American Idol" panel on Jan. 15
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Actor Tom Ellis and EP Joe Henderson on stage for Fox's "Lucifer" panel on Jan. 15
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David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson on stage for Fox's "The X-Files" panel on Jan. 15
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Amber Grimes and Nick Cannon on stage for Oxygen's "Like a Boss" panel on Jan. 14
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EPs Philip D. Segal, Kevin Williams and investors Lauren Maillian, Randi Zuckerberg, Ido Leffler and Sarah Prevette on Oxygen's "Quit Your Day Job" panel on Jan. 14
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Actor Kieran Bew on stage for Esquire's "Beowulf" panel on Jan. 14
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Candis Cayne, Caitlyn Jenner and Ella Giselle on stage for E!'s "I Am Cait" panel on Jan. 14
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Nathan Phillips, Britne Oldford and Julian McMahon on stage for Syfy's "Hunters" panel on Jan. 14
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Stars Olivia Taylor Dudley, Hale Appleman, Arjun Gupta, Summer Bishil, Jason Ralph, Stella Maeve and EPs Michael London, Sera Gamble and John McNamara for Syfy's "The Magicians" panel on Jan. 14
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Christian Slater on stage during USA's "Mr. Robot" panel on Jan. 14
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EPs Ryan Condal and Carlton Cuse for USA's "Colony" on Jan. 14
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Jamie Kennedy, Maya Erskine and Joshua Leonard, Melissa George, Dave Annable and Co-EP Dr. Kathy Magliato on stage for NBC's "Heartbeat" panel on Jan. 13
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Executive producer and star Eva Longoria and actor Jencarlos Canela on stage for NBC's "Telenovela" panel on Jan. 13
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NBC's "Game of Silence" panel on stage on Jan. 13
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Executive producer Dick Wolf on stage for NBC's panel about "Chicago Med," "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago PD" on Jan. 13
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Actress Miranda Cosgrove on stage for NBC's "Crowded" panel on Jan. 13
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Jennifer Lopez on stage for NBC's "Shades of Blue" panel on Jan. 13
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America Ferrera and Ben Feldman on stage for NBC's "Superstore" panel on Jan. 13
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Mark McKinnon on stage for Showtime's "The Circus" panel on Jan. 12
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Luke Wilson, Carla Gugino and Imogene Poots on stage for Showtime's "Roadies" panel on Jan. 12
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EP Bill Lawrence, EP Blake McCormick, EP Steve Franks, and actors Wendie Malick, Page Kennedy, Justin Hires, Jon Foo, and Aimee Garcia for CBS's "Rush Hour" panel on Jan. 12
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Daniel Henney on stage for CBS's "Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders" panel on Jan. 12
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CBS News panel on Jan. 12
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Chairman CBS Sports Sean McManus, "The Super Bowl Today" host James Brown, analyst Phil Simms, announcer Jack Whitaker and announcer Jim Nantz on stage for CBS Sports panel on Jan. 12
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Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney for Amazon's "Catastrophe" panel on Jan. 11
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Director Alex Gibney and producer Kahane Cooperman for Amazon's "The New Yorker Presents" panel on Jan. 11
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Titus Welliver for Amazon's "Bosch" panel on Jan. 11
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Ben Chaplin for Amazon's "Mad Dogs" panel on Jan. 11
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Alycia Debnam-Carey on stage for CW's "The 100" panel on Jan. 10
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Actor David Gyasi on stage for CW's "Containment" panel on Jan. 10
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CW's "Legends of Tomorrow" panel on Jan. 10
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Executive producers Jennie Snyder Urman and Aline Brosh McKenna for the CW's "Jane the Virgin" and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" on Jan. 10
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ABC's "American Crime" panel on Jan. 9
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Martha Plimpton on ABC's "The Real O'Neals" panel on Jan. 9
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Stars Juliette Lewis and Michael Ealy on ABC's "Secrets and Lies" panel on Jan. 9
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Executive producer Jenna Bans and star Andrew McCarthy on ABC's "The Family" panel on Jan. 9
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Executive producer Reza Aslan on ABC's "Of Kings and Prophets" panel on Jan. 9
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Dominic Sherwood and Katherine McNamara on Freeform's "Shadowhunters" panel on Jan. 9
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Freeform's "Recovery Road" panel on Jan. 9
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Aaron Paul, Michelle Monaghan, and Hugh Dancy on stage for Hulu's "The Path" panel on Jan. 9
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Producers Anthony Zuiker, Darren Star and Robert Thomas on stage during Hulu's "Great Shows, New Audiences" panel on Jan. 9
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Actors James Franco and Josh Duhamel on stage for Hulu's "11.22.63" on Jan. 9
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Series creator Tom Rob Smith on stage for BBC America's "London Spy" panel on Jan. 8
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Creator Peter Moffat on BBC America's "Undercover" panel on Jan. 8
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Producer Huw Cordey on BBC America's "The Hunt" panel on Jan. 8
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Host Chris Evans for BBC America's "Top Gear" panel on Jan. 8
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Executive producer John Legend on stage for WGN America's "Underground" panel on Jan. 8
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Series creator Peter Mattei, EP Peter Tolan and stars Ryan Hurst, Gillian Alexy, David Morse, Kyle Gallner and Christina Jackson for WGN America's "Outsiders" panel on Jan. 8
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"Outlander" stars Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan on stage on Jan. 8
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Actor Toby Stephens on stage for Starz's "Black Sails" panel on Jan. 8
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EP Steven Soderbergh, actress Riley Keough and EP Amy Seimetz on stage for "The Girlfriend Experience" on Jan. 8
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Anthony Hopkins on stage during Starz's "The Dresser" panel on Jan. 8
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Starz CEO Chris Albrecht on stage during his executive session on Jan. 8
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President, TBS and TNT and Chief Creative Officer, Turner Entertainment, Kevin Reilly during executive session on Jan. 7
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Jake Weary, Finn Cole, Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman, Ben Robson and Shawn Hatosy speak on stage during TNT's "Animal Kingdom" panel on Jan. 7
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"The Detour" star and EP Jason Jones and star Natalie Zea on stage for TBS comedy on Jan. 7
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"Full Frontal" host Samantha Bee and EP Jo Miller on stage for TBS late night show on Jan. 7
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"Angie Tribeca" stars Rashida Jones and Hayes MacArthur on stage on Jan. 7
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Khloe Kardashian on stage for her FYI talk show "Kocktails With Khloe" on Jan. 6
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Paul Dano, Lily James and James Norton during A&E's "War & Peace" panel on Jan. 6
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Writer and director Benjamin Ross and actor Sean Bean on stage during A&E's "The Frankenstein Chronicles" panel on Jan. 6
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Bradley James on stage during Lifetime's "Damien" panel on Jan. 6
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Shiri Appleby, Constance Zimmer and Craig Bierko on stage during Lifetime's "UnREAL" panel on Jan. 6
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Host Craig Ferguson and EP Brian Vok-Weiss speak on stage during History's "Join or Die" panel on Jan. 6
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Viceland creative director Spike Jonze introduces new network's panel on Jan. 6
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Viceland creative director Spike Jonze and the network's hosts speak on stage on Jan. 6
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John Rhys-Davies speaks on stage for MTV's "The Shannara Chronicles" on Jan. 6
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Nikki Glaser on stage for Comedy Central's "Not Safe With Nikki Glaser" on Jan. 6
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Stars Sutton Foster and Hilary Duff speak on stage during TV Land's "Younger" panel on Jan. 6
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Improv group The Katydids (Caitlin Barlow, Katy Colloton, Cate Freedman, Kate Lambert, Katie O'Brien, Kathryn Renee Thomas) and EPs Alison Brie and Jay Martel speak on stage during TV Land's "Teachers" panel on Jan. 6
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"Chasing Destiny" EP Jason Sands, host Kelly Rowland, creative director/choreographer Frank Gatson and EP Danny Rose speak on stage on Jan. 6
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Brandy Norwood speaks onstage during the BET "Zoe Ever After" panel on Jan. 6
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Connor Schell (left), senior vice president and executive producer for ESPN Films, and Ezra Edelman, director of "OJ: Made In America" on Jan. 5
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Vince Vaughn, executive producer of "The '85 Bears," speaks during the ESPN Films "30 for 30" panel on Jan. 5
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"Rough Draft" host Reza Aslan speaks alongside writer Norman Lear on Jan. 5
TV stars and executives promote new and returning shows at the annual Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour

