'Hannibal' Season 3 Premiere Episode Preview [SPOILERS] Top 5 Reasons to Watch 'Antipasto' & More in 2015

NBC's critically acclaimed crime-horror TV series from Bryan Fuller, Hannibal returns for its highly anticipated season 3 premiere this week on June 4, 2015, which is pretty great considering last season's finale cliffhanger. In 2015, we'll see Dr. Lecter and the rest of the cast taking on Europe and even the Tooth Fairy Killer, Francis Dolaryde portrayed by The Hobbit star Richard Armitage. Below, we've come up with the top five reasons to tune in and watch the first episode of season 3, "Antipasto" on NBC this week!

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Bryan Fuller's writing team is reworking Lecter's origin story from Hannibal Rising.

In the fall of 2014, Fuller revealed that his retelling of the characters from the Thomas Harris novels will expand into the past; namely our favorite evil doctor's origin story.

"We are definitely reworking a lot of [Hannibal Rising]," Fuller said when asked about taking on Lecter's origin story when talking to IGN last year. "It's perhaps the book that we reimagine the most for the television series. We see ourselves -- and I think I may have said this to you before -- as the Thomas Harris mashup DJs, where we're spinning tracks of Silence of the Lambs and using lyrics from Hannibal Rising. So we're taking everything almost as though you mixed it in a big, delicious cookie bowl, and now we're plucking out the chocolate chips."

Season 3 features plenty of guest stars!

Besides Armitage taking on the all-important role of Dolarhyde, we've also learned throughout the production of season three that other familiar faces and characters will show up in 2015.

Michael Pitt has left the series as Mason Verger, replaced by Joe Anderson in some heavy makeup. Also, actor Glenn Fleshler, who portrayed the villain in HBO's True Detective's first season, is set to appear in Hannibal's third season, too. Maybe the biggest guest star this season, though, is Zachary Quinto!

Fuller also revealed that season 3 will feature a number of flashbacks that could include some returning characters that we thought were dead and gone in season 2!

The first three episodes of 2015 were directed by Neil Marshall, who directed The Decent and Game of Thrones episodes.

The Decent is one of the more creative horror movies of recent cinema, thus making these first three episodes a huge draw. Check out our coverage of this news right here!

The trailers and previews!

With the season three premiere debuting this week, we've seen a number of great previews for the new episodes. Whoever is behind the marketing for Hannibal definite knows the show's audience because we were hooked from the first teaser trailer to this season three preview video:

Gillian Anderson's Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier.

When news broke that Anderson was promoted to a series regular, we got excited. When we saw the first teaser video featured plenty of Bedilia, we got even more excited. Finally, learning that Bedilia is posing as Hannibal's wife for at least a few episodes, dealing with her fear of Lecter and possibly wanting some sort of escape from him, we lost it!

What are you looking forward to in this new season? What are you hoping to see in 2015? Let us know in the comments section below!