"Hannibal" returns on TV for its third season on June 4. Ahead of Season 3's premiere, Bryan Fuller, the executive producer of NBC's psychological thriller series, discussed what's in store for fans in the upcoming episodes.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Fuller revealed that the end of Season 2 has provided an exciting turn for creativity, adding that the upcoming episodes will feature more interesting characters and finding "new layers" to the cast's performances, the news outlet quoted.

"I've never really seen this show as a crime show as much as I've seen it as a romantic horror story," Fuller told Entertainment Weekly, referring to the show's freedom in storytelling. He also addressed the show's crime procedural narrative and admitted that they needed that type of storyline as a "crutch" to "provide a spine" for the series, the news outlet added. But he insisted that the first seven episodes of Season 3 will completely leave out the crime procedural structure.

"I wanted to embrace that gateway drug of the crime procedural to facilitate not only the network's comfort level, but also a sense of familiarity for the audience in terms of how we were telling stories," Fuller, who also serves as a showrunner of the series, told Entertainment Weekly. "I was thrilled to be able to dump the debris."

Season 2's finale saw the violent and bloody encounter Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal Lecter had with Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), and Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas), Variety noted. As the new season opens, Hannibal is seen escaping in Italy with his mysterious psychiatrist, Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson).

The third season will also feature Hannibal finally shedding his harmless psychiatrist façade and finally revealing his murderous nature. Talking to Variety about this plot twist, Fuller said that the storyline allowed a deeper look on the character and explored Hannibal's heartbreak over Will's betrayal. What's more painful for Hannibal is that he trusted Will and allowed the criminal profiler to seduce him.

"There's such a humanizing element in that heartbreak that [means] we will both be more drawn to Hannibal Lecter in season three as a character and appreciate the openness of his villainy for the first time in the series," Fuller explained to Variety.

Describing Hannibal and Will's relationship throughout the series, Fuller said that Season 1 was about "bromance," Season 2 focused on the pair's "nasty breakup," and Season 3 will center on finding closure, the news outlet reported.

Fuller added that the central story of Season 3 is about Will seeking finality from Hannibal - whether it's through the criminal's imprisonment or with one of them ending up dead, Variety added. The last six episodes of the season, meanwhile, will tackle the Red Dragon arc, which is based on the novel with the same name by Thomas Harris. The villain Francis Dolarhyde will be portrayed by Richard Armitage in the TV series.