the run, Lecter sends a letter to Starling, saying she is safe and he will not come after her, and another letter to Chilton swearing gruesome vengeance. In the film adaptation, Lecter calls Starling and says he is "having an old friend for dinner", as he begins following Chilton. Hannibal Chilton does not appear in Hannibal; the hospital has been shut down by the time the novel's events take place. The novel does mention that Chilton disappeared while on vacation in Jamaica seven years earlier; it is strongly suggested that Lecter murdered him. Other media Film In Manhunter (1986), the first film adaptation of Red Dragon, Chilton is played by Benjamin Hendrickson. In both The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Red Dragon (2002), he is played by Anthony Heald. Television In the TV series Hannibal, a loose adaptation of the novels, Chilton is portrayed by Raúl Esparza. In this continuity, Chilton was originally a "dangerously incompetent" surgeon who switched his specialty to psychiatry after accidentally killing a patient. In each season (as a running gag) he suffers and improbably survives gruesome and near-fatal injuries, leaving him increasingly debilitated. Season 1 He first appears in the episode "Entrée", in which his patient Dr. Abel Gideon (Eddie Izzard) kills a nurse after Chilton unwittingly influences him into believing that he is the serial killer known as the Chesapeake Ripper. Gideon eventually learns the truth and suffers an identity crisis, and he escapes to seek revenge against all of his previous psychiatrists, including Chilton. Gideon kidnaps and tortures Chilton, intending to leave his organs as a "gift basket" for the real Ripper. Gideon is forced to flee from the police after having removed some of Chilton's less vital organs, leaving him alive but in critical condition. Season 2 Chilton reappears in the second season, minus one kidney, walking with a cane, and now unable to consume protein-rich food. Will Graham (Hugh Dancy)—who has been falsely accused of the Ripper murders—is now a patient under Chilton's custody. He successfully appeals to Chilton's vanity and convinces him to help expose Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) as the real killer. Through Chilton's resources, Graham discovers that Lecter was inducing the blackouts and seizures he was suffering prior to his arrest. Chilton confronts Lecter with this, but claims he will keep his secret, as he is also guilty of "making a patient kill". Graham also discovers that