Actor says he's glad Mads Mikkelsen got the job instead

Hannibal type TV Show network NBC genre Crime

To read more about David Tennant, Bad Samaritan, and this summer’s other most anticipated movies, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly on stands now, or buy it here. Don’t forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

Between his recent, Krysten Ritter-torturing performance as Kilgrave in Netflix’s Jessica Jones and his upcoming turn as a rich serial killer in the film Bad Samaritan, David Tennant seems to be in something of a villainous stage in his career. Was that a deliberate choice by the Scottish actor after playing far more heroic characters in Doctor Who and Broadchurch?

“Nothing’s ever deliberate with me, I’m afraid,” says Tennant. “But there is something delicious about playing people that go to really dark corners of the human experience. I’m certainly not complaining!”

The actor’s days of onscreen villainy almost began several years ago when he was in the frame to play the titular psychiatrist-cannibal in the NBC show Hannibal.

“I met [Hannibal executive producer] Bryan Fuller a couple of times, and we talked about it,” says Tennant. “But I think they quite wisely chose Mads Mikkelsen, I think he was a perfect choice for it, and I think he did things with that character that I wouldn’t have managed, so I think the right man got the job.”

Watch a clip from Bad Samaritan above and the film’s trailer, below.

Bad Samaritan will be released May 4.