Caroline Dhavernas sees her Hannibal character, Dr. Alana Bloom, as the heart of the TV series.

Certainly, the doctor has intriguing relationships with both of the NBC’s series’ leading men, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, played by Mads Mikkelsen, and Will Graham, played by Hugh Dancy.

The show airs Friday at 10 p.m. on City TV.

Dr. Bloom was a man in the novel Red Dragon, which introduced the Lecter character, but Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller changed it up, turning the psychologist and FBI consultant into a woman.

Montreal-born Dhavernas says Bloom has much empathy for FBI profiler Will and a complex relationship with Hannibal, who viewers know as the erudite Hannibal the Cannibal.

“The arc with Will is they’re drawn to each other. I think he may have been willing to give it a go. He’s the kind of guy she’d like to fix, but she couldn’t be in a relationship with him,” Dhavernas says.

“So there’s a professional curiosity about him. She loves him very much, but she’s not going to let her own emotions get in the way. . . . She’s only thinking of Will’s well-being while trying to help him get out of his present situation as soon as possible. Everyone else is always thinking about how useful he can be to them. No one thinks about how everything affects him so much, except for Alana. She is like the heart of the show.”

If you’re up to date on Season 2, you’ll know that Will is in a mental hospital, accused of being a psychopathic killer, while the real psycho, Lecter, takes on Will’s profiling job.

“Hannibal was her mentor, they’re social friends, he likes her company,” Dhavernas says. “He’ll always want to keep a good relationship with her and they will become closer this season, but God knows he’s looking after his own interests.”

Dhavernas, who’s 35 but has more than 25 years’ experience in both French and English-language projects, talks about the main characters’ role reversal.

“Hannibal is now doing what Will used to do, with agent Graham now behind bars but knowing exactly what’s going on. Now it’s about how he can extricate himself from this difficult situation, with a criminal investigation and a handful of murders hanging over him. The viewers appreciate the elevated quality of the show. . . . It’s a heightened reality, almost operatic.”

Dhavernas, who got her first gig at age 8 doing dubbing American movies into French in Montreal, was brought onto Hannibal by Fuller, with whom she’d worked with on Wonderfalls (2004).

She appreciates the fact that Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me) likes working with the same actors, “but he has them doing something completely opposite of what they’ve done before, which is very rare. Often people stick with some idea of what they think you can do or the vibe that you have. Bryan knows that fans also enjoy seeing actors in different roles.”

Dhavernas suggests the show’s fans are fascinated by the human monster played by Danish-born Mikkelsen.

“We shy away from horror in our everyday lives, which is a sane thing to do. But art allows us to safely have an inkling of these strong emotions that we usually run away from. So Hannibal is a very cathartic character.”

She adds that, “Mads is doing a wonderful job. Sure it’s an exciting proposition to play this iconic character but also frightening because Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal is so engraved in our mind. But Mads is doing a wonderful job of making Hannibal sexy.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Dhavernas, who also co-stars in Goodbye World, an end-of-the-world indie movie coming out in April, tells Hannibal’s audience to enjoy the ride this season.

“The whole series is very cat and mouse. The action, the style, the gorgeous cooking and eating scenes are all important. But what the fans also love is that it’s all about two characters and there are so many variations on that: meeting in a room, studying and ‘shrinking’ each other up.

“Another thing that’s fun for audiences is that we characters are sort of oblivious to what we’re eating at the fine table Hannibal sets. We’re shoving fancy, savoury things into our mouths . . . and the audience is going, ‘If they only knew what they’re eating!’ But on a more serious note, Graham and Hannibal’s friendship has been completely torn apart, but as Will says, ‘There will be a reckoning, Dr. Lecter!’”