Hannibal showrunner ‘hopeful’ the show can still return

Like Firefly, Hannibal is a series that was cut down way too soon and one that we are constantly in hope will be renewed.

And, in fairness, there has been talk and speculation about the show’s revival for sometime now and once again, it seems that bringing back the world’s most charming, badass and famous cannibal is not beyond possibility (just check through all these past links about the show possibly returning here).

Following the awesome Zoom meeting of the cast it seems that once again, eyes are looking to the future:

The series – the first three seasons – has recently jumped from Amazon Prime to Netflix and it has found a whole new audience there and is a top-ten show for the streamer, so obviously, given that Netflix is not against saving popular shows, people are wondering if there is a harmonious relationship about to spark up.

Hannibal has recently made its way to Netflix in the US, after being on Amazon Prime for a while, but it has caused interest in the series to spike, finding a new base of fans (Fannibals) and it has frequently been seen on the Netflix top 10 list of TV shows.

“I am very hopeful,” said showrunner Bryan Fuller.

“The great thing about the fact that if we are going to be meeting them and it takes five, six, seven years until we’re meeting them, that’ll just be how long they’ve been on the lam.”

Interestingly, the next series would chronicle the novel Silence of the Lambs and it’s because of the ownership of the character of Clarice Starling that the show hit a stumbling block and, as such, it’s also why CBS is now working on a Clarice series starring Rebecca Breeds – because they have the rights and by damn they plan on capitalising on them.

“Martha De Laurentiis controls the rights for the Hannibal character,” says Fuller.

“[Gaumont International Television], who produced the Hannibal series that we worked on, has the rights to those characters and those situations. So if we want to continue telling the tales we were telling, Gaumont needs to be involved, Martha De Laurentiis needs to be involved. Then of course we need a network to platform us.”

So, should Netflix, or anyone else, decide to back the series, then everyone is primed to go: “I wish there was something that was definitive,” Fuller goes on.

“I’ve had conversations with Hugh [Dancy, Will in the show] and Mads [Mikkelsen, Hannibal himself] and the cast, in terms of like, ‘This is what we would do if we were allowed to come back.’ There’s some ideas that I’m very excited about that continue the strange trajectory of season 3.

“But I have not been approached. I’ve knocked on every door and rang every bell. Martha and I, every couple of years, pick up our bags and go door to door and see if anybody’s interested in revisiting. The biggest hurdle is that we were somebody else’s show.

“What I love about Netflix platforming the show now is there’s an opportunity for it to be seen as a Netflix show and maybe that will reconfigure their appetite, so to speak. But nobody has said anything to me, and believe me, like the nickel hooker on the red light district I am hanging out the window, waving my legs. They know I’m ready.” Dancy is basically all-in to put on the (extremely sweaty) clothes of Will Graham once again.

Dancy adds that he is ready to go if and when it gets the greenlight: “I agree with Bryan. I would defer to Bryan’s sense of what would work if the story that he wanted to tell and where he ended up taking it could work in that format. Obviously, this is a wildly hypothetical question. But in the hypothetical, absolutely. I’m in, basically.”

Every so often then show looks like it’s going to get a second life and every time I feel hopeful – and I do again – this is a story that captivated me for three wonderful seasons and one which I would be only too happy to come back to as soon as possible.

Any other Hannibal fans on here? Let me know your thoughts…

Sources: Forbes and Collider