'Hannibal' Season 3: New Red Dragon Image Features Richard Armitage's Francis Dolarhyde

by Jess Goodwin 9h ago

We’re still weeks from the Red Dragon storyline of Hannibal Season 3, and while we’ve seen a few shots of Francis Dolarhyde (Richard Armitage), it’ll probably be awhile before we see any concrete footage.

That doesn’t mean we won’t have photos sprinkled here and there — like the one below, first seen on showrunner Bryan Fuller’s recent appearance on the Dinner Party Show.
The shot appears to have been taken from the brief footage shown in NBC’s “First Look” video, which features interviews with the cast, as well as shots of Dolarhyde’s massive Red Dragon tattoo.

There’s something else quite interesting about the image, as fans of Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon novel and the film adaptation will surely notice. The projector plays a big part in this particular storyline, as Dolarhyde uses it to play video of his victims.
Considering the advances in technology since Red Dragon was written we wondered if maybe he’d have a more modern projector, but we imagine the projector belonged to his grandmother (another aspect of the story those who have read the novel will be familiar with).

The mirror is also quite intriguing. It looks like Dolarhyde hurled something at it, or maybe even punched it. Either way, it makes sense that the mirror would upset him — a bit part of his psychosis revolves around his hatred of the way he looks.

Dolarhyde will make his debut in the eighth episode of Season 3, at which point Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) will have already been behind bars (or reinforced glass) for three years and Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) will have built a new life for himself.

Tune into new episodes of Hannibal Thursdays at 10 p.m. on NBC.

11:00 am ET
Jun 10, 2015 GEEK CULTURE
Will Graham Makes a Grand Return to ‘Hannibal’ (Exclusive Clip)
By MICHAEL CALIA

It isn’t much of a spoiler to say that serial-killer profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) survived the bloody second season finale of “Hannibal.” In that episode, Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), disappointed by Will’s betrayal, sliced open his friend and pursuer, leaving him for dead.

But “Hannibal” without Will Graham would be almost as bad as “Hannibal” without Hannibal. The show and the character need Will Graham. The character provides the tortured counterpoint to Hannibal’s smooth, confident psychopath. It’s an intense setup that requires an intense performance from Dancy, but the challenge of playing the part is rewarding, the actor said in a recent phone interview with Speakeasy.

Related story: Mads Mikkelsen Previews “Hannibal” Season 3

“I love that I get to show up to work and play these really preposterous scenes with Mads that nobody else on television or probably even experimental theater would be doing,” Dancy said. “It’s always enjoyable, and then I go home and feel pretty good about that.”

Dancy talked more about Will Graham’s return to “Hannibal” in the third season’s second episode, which airs at 10 p.m. Eastern on Thursday on NBC. An edited transcript follows.

When we last saw Will, he was broken, cut up, left for dead. We know how he is physically. How is he psychologically at this point?

That’s the question that doesn’t get answered in a while, in the sense that there’s a question hanging over the beginning of the season. Who’s alive? Who’s not alive? Broadly speaking, that gets dealt with, but the question where Will is in his head, even though we know that he’s off on a kind of quest for Hannibal, his motives are … I’m dodging the question. Basically, what I’m saying is that you’ll find out later. I think it’s safe to say he’s not in a happy place.

With the way with season two culminated, do you think Will feels heartbroken in a way? There’s certainly that sense with Hannibal, as if there were a missed opportunity for this great friendship.

I think that Hannibal essentially feels heartbroken. Will, I don’t know. I think that he was, right up until the very last moment in the kitchen, in two minds. Not just that he couldn’t make up his mind, that he was actually containing two minds. One, which was ready to go off with Hannibal and become murder buddies, and the other one was to team up with Jack and apprehend him. He just left it too late. He kept those plates spinning because he couldn’t jump either way. Either one of them on their own wasn’t going to work. And so it was resolved by violence, basically. I think it’s also true that whatever he reconciled himself to, in terms of Hannibal and what Hannibal can do — he was not prepared for Abigail to re-emerge so rapidly to be sacrificed. That was a kind of baptism for him. There’s something a little bit more than new about him.

Where would you put Will’s opinion of Hannibal at this moment?

(laughs) I think that Will is pursuing Hannibal for his own sake rather than for Hannibal’s. By which, I mean, he’s gained a bit of distance and a bit of clarity. The clarity is not like, “Oh, I wanna catch this guy. I wanna put him down.” The clarity is saying, “I know that, for myself, I have to pursue this to the bitter end. I have to go on this journey, whatever it may be,” and in fact he doesn’t know what the ending is going to be. And he doesn’t know why he’s going. That’s not a hedge. I’m not trying to avoid this. I really think that’s the case. That’s better than the version of Will in the first season and second season, who not only didn’t know himself but was terrified of himself. He doesn’t feel that terror.

How has playing Will, your approach to playing Will changed since those first days when you were playing him in season one?

I think it’s become more heightened, and the style of the show has adapted simultaneous. Hannibal, as a character, is pretty unchangeable. He knows who he is. He knows what he wants. I maybe got under his skin a bit, but he’s Hannibal. That’s not been true for Will. The first season, even though it was pretty extreme, I always felt [he was] an unusual guy but somebody I could figure out and then took him on a psychological journey I could chart. But the second season was much more like, okay, we’ll just dive into these scenes … and hope that we can land the plane. And I think that the end result was kind of quite exciting, but it was also a little more unnerving to be. I guess that’s been true this year, as well.

Do you ever just sit back and reflect on the fact that you’re on probably the weirdest — and I mean that in the best way — TV show since “Twin Peaks”?

It does seem mildly surprising. That was not the way anybody … it’s not like Bryan said, “I want to make a show that’s so completely weird that even you won’t necessarily understand what’s going on.” That was not the way it was described. But I love it and I feel fully comfortable. If we were kinda grinding along and trying to do something that’s more totally tethered to the earth, I think that would have greater challenges than the leeway you get with this dreamscale that basically inhabiting.

Based on knowledge of the books and films, it’s safe to assume we’re going to get to a point where Hannibal is behind Plexiglass or bars. If it does get to that point, how does Will find the strength to go on and continue to do his job tracking down killers after this ordeal?

Hypothetically speaking, or allegedly, it’s certainly public knowledge we’re heading into “Red Dragon” in the second half of the season. Certain in the book and the film adaptations, “Red Dragon” is where we see Hannibal incarcerated. It’s also, when we meet Will Graham there, he’s not working as a profiler. He’s already retired. It would take something very particular and probably connected to Hannibal in some way to draw Will back into that world. It’s not that he’s just going to say, “Yeah, I liked that job in the end. Yeah, let’s carry on with that!” Maybe he’s a glutton for punishment, but he’s not totally dim.

How long do you think this story can go on? Do you think this could go on for another, two, three or maybe four seasons after this?

Yeah, I do, actually, in part because I heard Bryan describe what he’s thinking about for season four should we be lucky enough to do that, and it was very exciting and it felt fresh. With this season, we go back to the source material very much. We go back to “Red Dragon,” which in a sense takes us back to where we were in season one. We’re back in Baltimore, back in that “try to stop a serial killer” kind of structure. Still: I know that’s going to be exciting to anybody that likes the book or likes the show because I’ve seen some of it, and Bryan did fabulous things with it.

I think that will earn us the right, not just the right, but the kind of launchpad to go off into something really unexpected next year. Really jumping ahead here … You do this for six months in a row, it’s just tiring and it’s kind of consuming, and then the element of fatigue, and it was only just before we finished that I got a chance to sit down with Bryan, and he told me, “This is what I’m thinking when we come back.” I was like, “O-K. That’s great. I’m in.”

How is Richard Armitage as Dolarhyde?

I think people are going to really, really enjoy it. I think people are going to love it. Because it’s fantastic. Dolarhyde is such a fantastic character. With all total respect to the film versions, nobody’s had a chance to do it justice because you can’t in two hours. It’s so bittersweet, and it’s so upsetting and terrifying at the same time. I think that Richard’s into that, totally. Also, there’s a kind of craziness in that novel, with the writing and the inner monologue — his visions, basically. We’ve gotten to that point in the show that we can reflect them and we can show them. That hasn’t necessarily been the case thus far on the screen. [In a movie] he just becomes the boogeyman, and he is the boogeyman. He’s so much more.

in: Home,Movies/TV,News | June 10, 2015 - 2:29 pm | by: Ken W. Hanley | No Comment
Return of the Dragon: FX Artist Francois Dagenais on “HANNIBAL” Season Three
With Bryan Fuller taking his shot at editing FANGORIA #343, FANGO fans have turned their eyes onto HANNIBAL’s third season for their fix of transgressive terror. Luckily, we had a taste of what nastiness is to come when Fuller was able to sneak FANGORIA onto the set of HANNIBAL last month, and we were able to catch up with the brilliant cast and crew of the surreal series. In this chat, FANGORIA touched base with HANNIBAL’s FX extraordinaire Francois Dagenais, who opened up about getting the most wickedly wrong moments of HANNIBAL right this season…

FANGORIA: Was there a change in your approach to doing the special FX for season three as opposed to the first two seasons?

FRANCOIS DAGENAIS: I don’t think there was a different approach per se. I mean, a lot has changed in that the crew is different in both my shop and in the production office, I think the biggest issue this year was that the communication was a little bit different than it was before, so at first we pretty much did everything more or less the same way. I always have my own approach on doing things, and it also depends on what it is that they need, right? As an example, the first thing we had to do was this giant meat puppet, and not having done a lot of puppet work, it was interesting to think about what we could do. You always like to see what it is they need, and then I’d take the best possible approach to realize it.

FANGORIA: Was there anything Bryan came with that, even considering your work on the other seasons, you didn’t know if you’d be able to pull off?

DAGENAIS: No, not really. It’s not really what he comes up with that we’ll be like, “Oh my God, I can’t do that.” It’s always the time factor. I always love all the stuff he throws at me, the weirder the better for me; I love that shit. This year was crazy, and he had some cool ideas, but it’s always a function of time. We have only so much time to do something, so it’s about “How do we get it done to look good, and for [Bryan] to be happy because it’s his idea and we have to bring it to life?” I don’t want to come to set with something that looks like crap and he’s not happy with it.

So our challenge is always, “Okay, we have five days, or ten days, or fifteen days. Let’s figure out what we can do in that amount of time to achieve the best looking piece that we can.” And also, in between that is going to set, prepping the other episodes, and all that stuff. There’s never really anything thrown at us where it’s like “Ah, I can’t do that.” It’s “Oh my God, that’s all the time we have?” So again, I always welcome the strangest ideas he can throw at us.

FANGORIA: As a fan of the series who is also the SFX, was there anything you had to work on that affected you, whether it was the body of a beloved character or something that somehow tapped into you emotionally?

DAGENAIS: Well in that case, the thing that affected me the most was the Dolarhyde character, because as a kid, I saw MANHUNTER. Back then, I wasn’t aware about the character of Hannibal, I wasn’t aware about all this other stuff, but I’m almost fifty, and since I saw it the first time it played on TV when I was a little kid, it always stuck with me. I didn’t get it, but I remember the brutality of it. I remember how cool [Tom Noonan] was, in terms of portraying this character. I was old enough to be aware it was acting, but it was still very creepy.

When the character came up in his episode, I was pretty excited about it. Also they got Richard [Armitage] for it, and Richard went right into it, and really, really good. That, to me, was probably the most important character I’ve worked on, and the one that affected me and made me happy. We didn’t have to do too much for him in terms of makeup, besides his little cleft lip. Of course, he becomes the Red Dragon later on, and that was a little more involved. But in terms of that side of the character, we made him some teeth, we made him some red lips, and he just did everything else. It was really good.

Dimmond-reduced-to-a-heart.-Hannibal-Season-3-Premiere

FANGORIA: HANNIBAL does shock it’s audience pretty frequently with what it can get away with. Has there been any gory creation that you even were surprised would get on network TV?

DAGENAIS: It’s always a little bit of a surprise. The way I approach it is that I have one goal. I love gore, it’s what I specialize in, and I’ve always liked gore, and doing all the SAW sequels, I was like “Oh my God, I just need to keep doing this.” Some of the gore [on HANNIBAL] is a little more artistic, but one of my goals is to do something that’s going to make someone sick on set. I get “Oh my God I can’t see this, I can’t look at this,” and all of that stuff, but I seriously want to make somebody sick on set one day. I want someone to walk in on set and [gagging noise] because they can’t stand it. So I’ve always tried to reach that line where it’s like, “There’s no way they’re gonna show that.” But there is also a way to shoot it all, and they can shoot around it if it’s too gory.

This year, there’s a lot of that stuff; The second unit director told me one day, “Listen, the practices and standards committee had to have three meetings about a scene that they had shot with Mason’s surgery.” And we had a good laugh about that, because it’s like, “How can they show it on TV?” But that scene is so integral to the show, and they kind of have to show it. If they have to have two or three meetings about deciding if they’re going to put it [on TV] or not, that’s cool, I like that. I’m always afraid it’s going to get cut, but they usually leave a little bit of something in there. Also, it’s part of HANNIBAL; people watch the show and they expect that to be in there, so they can’t just take everything out.

So no, I’m not surprised about what they can show. This year, there’s something that I think will make people gawk the most, and it’s not that it’s gory and it’s not the blood, but there’s going to be some people that will watch and go, “That enough! I draw the line at that!” The scene that I’m talking about is a scene with a pig, and I thought, “This is fucking amazing! They’re doing this with a pig?!” I think everybody was on the same page with that since it’s like, “This is what’s going to make the church people talk.” There are people who are already against show because of the violence and the gore, but this will be the line I shouldn’t have stepped on. But I’m all over the line; I love it. I’m going to jump on it and the other side, and all over the place; to me, it’s cool. I think it’s definitely going to make people talk.

FANGORIA: Was there ever any particular death tableau that is your particular favorite?

DAGENAIS: I want to like all of them. The one that stands out would be the first body from the very first episode, because it was a nude female body on the end of a stag head, and the approach that we had for that was not really fabrication but a regular body that’s weighted down and articulated, so when we laid it down, it would do its own thing. And that’s one of the reasons that I think it looked pretty good. But in terms of gore, it wasn’t gory or anything; it was just a nice body that we got to do.

I think the one that would stand out to me throughout the seasons would be Katz, who got sliced up last year. That was a lot of fun. The approach was that we molded her, we did a lot of fabrication, and we basically tried to build a body. I was looking a lot at the body work stuff, where they actually tried to build people, and it just made sense for us to physically build a body with all of the organs in it, with all of the bones, with all that stuff, put it inside her body, and literally slice it up. Then we went in afterwards and did all the cosmetic work for all of the slabs. To me, that was a lot of fun.

FANGORIA: Bryan has been very vocal in his attempts to get the rights to Clarice Starling and the events of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, which have yet to be successful. Has Bryan ever talked to you about potential opportunities regarding that plot line in the future, in case you do a HANNIBAL “variation” on the source material?

DAGENAIS: No, we didn’t really approach that. I don’t know how much of a touchy subject it is; the only thing I hear is that [the rights holders] just will not let go of it because they want their own Clarice series. I don’t know how true that is, but nobody personally talks to me about that anyways. So I don’t know what that is at the point, if it’s gonna happen or not. My gut feeling is that if they still haven’t said yes to it, it’s probably not going to happen, but who knows right? Things happen overnight sometimes.

FANGORIA: Do you have any other projects outside of HANNIBAL that you’re currently working on or set to work on?

DAGENAIS: Not really; I’ve been approached for a few different things, but I don’t have the job yet. Usually, until I’m sitting down at a meeting or I’m struggling, going, “God, it’s gotta be ready tomorrow,” I never say or believe that I have the job. The only thing that’s in the works right now is a pilot everybody is sort of bidding on right now. It’s a comedy; I just read the script yesterday, and that would be really cool to do since there’s some amazing writers,and the story’s pretty funny too. Hopefully that’s going to happen. Otherwise I’m giving a hand next door on the MORTAL INSTRUMENTS series and that’s about it.

HANNIBAL continues its third season at 10 p.m. EST on NBC. HANNIBAL creator/writer Bryan Fuller will be serving as FANGORIA’s first Special Guest Editor for Issue #343, which contains more exclusive comments from Francois Dagenais; you can subscribe to FANGORIA here. Special thanks to Christopher La Vigna on his transcription work for this interview. Keep an eye out for more HANNIBAL coverage here at FANGORIA.com!

‘Hannibal’: 3 Steps to TV’s Scariest Soundtrack

By LIBBY HILLJUNE 12, 2015


GLENDALE, CALIF. — Over two seasons, “Hannibal” has presented some of television’s most beautifully disturbing imagery. A totem pole made of corpses. A field of corpses harvested to grow mushrooms. A corpse sewn inside a horse.

You get the idea.

But the music may be this NBC drama’s most frightening component. Based on Thomas Harris’s novels, which have already been made into five feature films — including the Oscar-winning “Silence of the Lambs” — “Hannibal” tells the story of the cannibal psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and his friend-nemesis, the F.B.I. profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). In Season 3, which began on June 4, Graham is on the trail of Lecter, who has escaped to Europe.

“Hannibal” eschews the lazy “jump scare” violins that so many horror movies and TV shows employ as a matter of course. Instead, the composer Brian Reitzell mirrors the waking nightmare imagery of Bryan Fuller, the show’s creator, with ambient sound and almost nonstop music — turbulent drums on top of wood blocks on top of clanging cymbals. And he’s always looking for something new with which to produce unsettling noises.
Continue reading the main story
Music for Cannibals

Here is a taste of the chilling soundtrack Brian Reitzell creates for NBC’s “Hannibal.”

During a recent recording session at his studio here, Mr. Reitzell, 49, was holding a Newton’s cradle, the desk toy with the suspended clicking balls, just one of the dozens of objects turned music makers that he trotted out over the course of two hours. “This was my daughter’s, but I broke it in the process,” said Mr. Reitzell, a former drummer for the punk band Redd Kross. “I used it in Season 3. It made really interesting rhythms. It was like instant Aphex Twin.”

The studio’s three rooms were filled to the brim with conventional instruments, too. (There were both a mallet drawer and a mallet bucket.) Between deliveries of even more instruments and gadgets, Mr. Reitzell walked a reporter through three steps for making TV’s most unsettling soundtrack.

Finding Sounds

The new season opens with a stylized sequence in which Hannibal rides a motorcycle through the streets of Paris at night. The scene is an example of the way Mr. Reitzell mixes instrumentation with manipulated and exaggerated sounds. As the motorcycle starts up, the soundtrack narrows in on the click of the key in the ignition, the roar of the engine’s fire, the hiss of exhaust. Underneath it all is a turbulent percussive score.

In his studio, Mr. Reitzell played a snippet of music for a scene he was composing. On-screen, a character was being tattooed. Mr. Reitzell used an arpeggiator to isolate the tone made by the tattoo gun, which he would then layer with other sounds as part of the moment’s overall design. In this scene alone, Mr. Reitzell used more than 50 percussive elements, many of which have nothing to do with drums or any other classical instrument, to create an abrasive, insinuating sound.

Psychological Responses

“If I put the sound of the ocean on, that’s going to do something to you,” he said. “And I know what that is, because it does it to me, too.” Mr. Reitzell said he follows the tenets of musique concrète, a genre whose practitioners use both natural sounds and distorted recordings to create musical compositions. “The older I get, the more I think birds are the best musicians on the planet.”

He has served as music supervisor on all but one of Sofia Coppola’s movies. But those were full of pop artists — New Order and Gang of Four in “Marie Antoinette,” Kanye West and Frank Ocean in “The Bling Ring.” His work on “Hannibal,” which shares the screen with the occasional classical piece, is something else entirely. The compositions are so discordant that even listening to them on their own, away from the context of the show, is disturbing.

The roots of Mr. Reitzell’s musical philosophy reach back to his childhood. “When my parents got divorced, I wanted to spend my time laying in the garage listening to the washer and dryer,” he said of his 5-year-old self. “Loud, immersive, changing. It was music to me.”

“All of these sounds,” he said, referring to the ocean, birds, the drone of insects, the rattle of the dryer, “they’re psychological — I just try to key into them.”

Homemade Horror

“With every episode, I have to do something different,” Mr. Reitzell said. “I started in Season 1 using found sounds, and now I’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of inexpensive things.” To make his point, he demonstrated the surprising musicality of Ping-Pong balls in a bowl. As they skitter over the surface of the bowl, the balls create a kinetic, reedy sound, not unlike a crank winding up. Though the balls are used throughout Season 3, Mr. Reitzell’s penchant for distortion renders them near unrecognizable with each iteration. There is something unnerving about his ability to take household items and manipulate their sounds into something frightening.

Unlike for his movie work, he doesn’t read the “Hannibal” scripts ahead of time. “With horror, it’s a different process,” he said. “I need to be with the audience and not overthink it.” He prefers to watch the episode in full in his studio, taking notes, as it were, on an eight-voice analog synthesizer; its atonal drone underlies much of each episode. “What they’re giving me with this show,” he said of the corpses, the cannibalism and the unrelenting darkness, messes “with me — I take this stuff home.”

NBC's 'Hannibal' Canceled After Three Seasons
The current third season of the Bryan Fuller drama will be its last.


The network has canceled Bryan Fuller's Silence of the Lambs prequel series after three seasons.

“NBC has allowed us to craft a television series that no other broadcast network would have dared, and kept us on the air for three seasons despite Cancellation Bear Chow ratings and images that would have shredded the eyeballs of lesser Standards & Practices enforcers," Fuller said in a statement. "Jen Salke and her team have been fantastic partners and creatively supportive beyond measure. HANNIBAL is finishing his last course at NBC’s table this summer, but a hungry cannibal can always dine again. And personally, I look forward to my next meal with NBC.”

Added NBC in a statement: “We have been tremendously proud of ‘Hannibal’ over its three seasons. Bryan and his team of writers and producers, as well as our incredible actors, have brought a visual palette of storytelling that has been second to none in all of television — broadcast or cable. We thank Gaumont and everyone involved in the show for their tireless efforts that have made ‘Hannibal’ an incredible experience for audiences around the world.”

NBC Cancels ‘Hannibal’ After Three Seasons

June 22, 2015 | 01:54PM PT
Elizabeth Wagmeister


“Hannibal” won’t live to see a fourth season: NBC announced the cancellation Monday.

Currently in its third season, which premiered June 4, the drama will finish up its entire 13-episode run in the same 10 p.m. timeslot Thursday nights this summer, wrapping up on Sept. 3, with the season-three finale serving as the series ender.

Created by Bryan Fuller, “Hannibal,” which debuted in spring 2013, stars Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne, Caroline Dhavernas, Gillian Anderson and Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

“We have been tremendously proud of ‘Hannibal’ over its three seasons,” the network announced in a statement. “Bryan and his team of writers and producers, as well as our incredible actors, have brought a visual palette of storytelling that has been second to none in all of television — broadcast or cable. We thank Gaumont and everyone involved in the show for their tireless efforts that have made ‘Hannibal’ an incredible experience for audiences around the world.”

Fuller — who is currently adapting the novel “American Gods” for series at Starz — commented: “NBC has allowed us to craft a television series that no other broadcast network would have dared, and kept us on the air for three seasons despite Cancellation Bear Chow ratings and images that would have shredded the eyeballs of lesser Standards & Practices enforcers. (NBC entertainment president) Jen Salke and her team have been fantastic partners and creatively supportive beyond measure. ‘Hannibal’ is finishing his last course at NBC’s table this summer, but a hungry cannibal can always dine again. And personally, I look forward to my next meal with NBC.”

The De Laurentiis Company, which produces “Hannibal,” tweeted that the company is “exploring other options for future seasons,” adding “others have expressed interest in partnering with us.”

Though critically acclaimed with a rabid fanbase, the series has been ratings-challenged from the start, and it hit a series-low 0.5 rating in adults 18-49 with the two most recent episodes to air. Those two episodes averaged a mere 1.65 million viewers overall.

Abgesetzt! Keine 4. Staffel für „Hannibal“ wegen schlechter Quote

Von Arthur A. am 22. Juni 2015


Es ist eine sehr traurige, aber leider gar nicht überraschende Neuigkeit, die NBC heute verkündet hat. Die düstere Thrillerserie „Hannibal“, die Thomas Harris‘ Romane um den kultivierten Kannibalen Dr. Hannibal Lecter äußerst gelungen ins Fernsehformat adaptiert hat, wird nach dem Ende der aktuell laufenden dritten Staffel nicht mehr weitergehen. Die Serie wurde aufgrund schlechter Zuschauerzahlen abgesetzt. Angesichts der wirklich absurd-niedrigen Einschaltquoten hat es sich bereits seit dem Beginn der dritten Staffel abgezeichnet. Obwohl die vorletzte Folge (unsere Kritik) wirklich ein kleines Meisterstück war, erreichte sie bei ihrer Ausstrahlung auf NBC nur knapp 1,7 Millionen Zuschauer und damit den absoluten Tuefpunkt der Serie. „Hannibal“ hatte bereits seit der allerersten Staffel mit niedrigen Einschaltquoten zu tun gehabt und bewegte sich immer am Rande der Absetzung. Ich, für meinen Teil, war eigentlich immer wieder überrascht (wenn auch natürlich sehr positiv), dass die Serie um eine zweite und später um eine dritte Staffel verlängert wurde. Dies hatte sie sehr positiver Resonanz unter Kritikern und (den wenigen) Zuschauern zu verdanken, aber auch der Sender NBC schien wirklich an die Serie on Bryan Fuller zu glauben und gab ihr die bestmögliche Chance.

Leider bissen die Zuschauer nicht an und obwohl gerade die zweite Staffel mit ihren pechschwarzen Szenarien, einem geradezu grotesken Level an Gewalt für eine Network-Serie (oder für irgendeine Serie) und brillanten Hauptdarstellern die Serie zu einem echten Meisterwerk erhoben hat, fielen die Quoten weiter und Preisverleihungen wie die Emmys und die Golden Globes verweigerten der Serie weiterhin ihre Anerkennung, die möglicherweise bei den Quoten geholfen hätte.

Wie dem auch sei, ist es jetzt zu spät für „was wäre wenn“-Mutmaßungen und eine weitere, wirklich tolle Serie verabschiedet sich bald aus dem Fernsehen. Man muss wohl dankbar sein, dass wir zumindest drei Staffeln in dieser wunderbaren, mutigen Welt von Will Graham (Hugh Dandy) und Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) verbringen durften. Wer hätte noch vor drei Jahren gedacht, dass Mikkelsen sich tatsächlich mit Anthony Hopkins‘ Darstellung des Psychopathen messen könnte?

Ursprünglich war „Hannibal“ laut Bryan Fuller auf sieben Staffeln ausgelegt und sollte alle vier Lecter-Romane von Thomas Harris verarbeiten. In Staffel 3 kommen wir aber erst bei „Roter Drache“ an. Es wäre extrem interessant auch die Romane „Das Schweigen der Lämmer“ und „Hannibal“ in Serienform zu sehen. In heutiger Zeit muss ein Serienende allerdings nicht endgültig sein (siehe „Community“ oder „The Killing“) und ich habe noch die leise Hoffnung, dass Amazon oder Netflix einspringen und die Serie retten. Ob sie aber angesichts der mickrigen Zuschauerzahlen tatsächlich in die Serie investieren werden, wage ich aber leider zu bezweifeln und hoffe, dass die dritte Staffel den Fans zumindest ein halbwegs abgerundetes Ende bieten kann. Serienschöpfer Bryan Fuller äußerte sich selbst zur Absetzung: (aus dem Englischen)

„Hannibal“ nimmt seinen letzten Gang am Tisch von NBC diesen Sommer zu sich, aber ein hungriger Kannibale kann immer wieder speisen. Und ich persönlich freue ich mich auf meine nächste Mahlzeit bei NBC.

Hoffen wir mal, dass es von „Hannibal“ wundersamerweise doch noch einen Nachschlag geben wird. Wir bleiben mit unseren Episoden-Reviews jedenfalls bis zum bitteren Ende dabei.

June 24, 2015 6:08pm PT by Amber Dowling

Bryan Fuller on 'Hannibal's' Future: "There Has Been Interest" From Other Outlets


"I do love the idea of continuing on with our partners at Amazon," the showrunner tells THR about a potential fourth season.




When news of Hannibal's cancellation surfaced Monday, it didn't take long for fans and showrunner Bryan Fuller to start the #SaveHannibal campaigns on social media. With 10 episodes to go in season three, The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Fuller to pick his brains on shopping the series around, plans for a potential fourth season, and what's in store for the final 10-episode run.

Is the plan to shop the series around?

There has been interest from a few different parties. It’s all about gauging how much of an interest and there’s certain avenues that I know we wouldn’t be able to do, for instance Netflix because our deal with Amazon precludes a Netflix component. So it’s not a good deal for them to make even though they’ve been so kind in terms of their enthusiasm for the show. The contract limits what they could do with it. The studio is talking with other venues to see how serious their interest is.

Does that include Amazon since it has the rights to the first two seasons?

Amazon makes the most sense, honestly, because they have been great partners with us for three seasons and we are exclusively streaming on Amazon. It feels like they have the interest in the program.

Do you have a preference on whether the show continues on cable or a streaming site?

I see the benefits of both, but I do love the idea of continuing on with our partners at Amazon. But we’re at a dance and we want to be asked out on the floor. All suitors are welcome.




Making a cancellation announcement with 10 episodes to go seems pretty early. Is there a particular reason it was made so far in advance?

It was based on their contracts. They had to give the studio an answer by the time the cancellation was announced.

Executive producer Martha De Laurentiis tweeted the show has always been in danger because of the content. Can you expand on that?

It’s a dark show, so we were never going to have a broad audience. I think the reference is just in general to niche cable interests on a broadcast network. It’s a dangerous place to be.

Was it purely a ratings decision or were there other factors at play?

It’s a pretty cut and dry mathematical cancelation. We were a 0.5 [adults ages 18-49]! So no other factors were necessary!

Did the rights issues to Silence of the Lambs and the Clarice character impact the decision at all?

Oh no, nothing at all. Clarice wasn’t in the plan for the fourth season. It’s much cooler actually. The plan for Clarice would be season five.

What can you hint about what you had planned?

Oh no, I can’t give that away! That would ruin the third season ending. It all ties in. The end of the third season is pretty dramatic, so we can’t give that away.

Will there be closure for fans with that ending if the show isn’t picked up elsewhere?

There will be a huge move for the show and it will be as satisfying an ending as it would have been in the first two seasons. So if we had ended with Will taking the fall for Hannibal’s crimes that would be a satisfying ending. Or if Hannibal is actually laying all of his friends to waste and walking out in the rain, that would be a satisfying ending. And this ending for season three would be as satisfying.



Did you script the finale as a series finale just in case?

Absolutely, every season I’ve assumed with how hard [NBC Entertainment president] Jennifer Salke has fought for the programming executives at NBC to keep this show on for three years, they were quite willing and happy to cancel it after the first season. If it weren’t for Jen fighting for this show it would have been. So I have always assumed and planned for every season to end in such a fashion that it would have some element of closure for the audience in terms of the story.

How many seasons would you ideally have liked to have?

About halfway through the previous season I go, “Oh! That’s what the next season is.” So I could imagine a scenario where I’m halfway through season five and going, “Oh! This is what season six would be.” It really is up to the audience appetite and the appetite of our distribution partner.

You’ve got American Gods at Starz coming up. Was that in first position to Hannibal? If there were a fourth season could you return as showrunner?

No, actually they’re completely separate deals. If there was a fourth season, we would coordinate a way to be able to allow me to do American Gods and Hannibal as well.

If the show doesn’t continue, can you see it living on in movie or comic book form?

Oh yeah, the plan for the fourth season would actually make a wonderful psychological thriller if we contained it to a movie. I would love to do a Hannibal movie with this cast.

What can you tease about what’s in store for the last 10 episodes?

The next four complete the Italian arc of the season and they are as insane and gory as anything we’ve done on the show and are actually among my favorite episodes we’ve ever done. And then we get into the Red Dragon arc in episode eight. We introduce Richard Armitage as Francis Dolarhyde, and that is a thrill, to be able to tell that story in the context of our characters and their significantly altered relationships from the novels.

Hope that Hannibal will continue at Amazon? Looking forward to the Italy conclusion? Sound off in the comments below and watch this exclusive first look at Thursday's new episode, "Aperitivo."

Hannibal airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on NBC.

Twitter: @amber_dowling

Amazon Renews 'Transparent' For Season 3, Eyes 'Hannibal'

Here's an example of how thing are different in the streaming and network world. Amazon's "Transparent" and NBC's "Hannibal" both offer bold storytelling, great performances, and have been met with critical acclaim. But this week, their fates were very different.

First, Amazon has renewed "Transparent" for a third season, with all the principal cast members coming back, along with Jill Soloway who will executive produce, and continue in her role as showrunner. It's not a shock the streaming company has re-upped, as it's their Golden Globe winning crown jewel, and you can tune in next year to see the next batch of episodes. And it looks like Amazon wants to add some more prestige to their lineup.

Following NBC's cancelation of "Hannibal" this week, the show's creatives and producers have been trying to find a new home for the serial killer drama. And Amazon, which already has the rights to the first three seasons, is taking a look.

“I know there have been discussions on a couple of fronts with Netflix and Amazon,” the show's creator and executive producer Bryan Fuller told Variety. “But I believe our deal with Amazon precludes a Netflix component so I think Netflix, who has expressed interest and has expressed great enthusiasm for the show… I don’t think contractually with our Amazon contract, they can pick up the show.”

But there are some roadblocks. Fuller says that without an "NBC component" it will make international sales a bit trickier, and even finding a network to pick up the show, that has already been established and run elsewhere, isn't an attractive proposition for those who might prefer their own original programming. However, Fuller is already teasing season four, should it happen, but don't expect things to get bloodier given the potential creative freedom found on a streaming service.

“I don’t know how much darker we can possibly go,” Fuller said. “The concept for the Season 4 arc is one that is inherently twisted, but also such a dynamic shift from where we were the first three seasons that there is also a broadening of the palette to include a lot more humor.”

“The planned arc for Season 4 is a very exciting one, so I would love to see the show continue, whether it be as a series or even condensed into a thriller as a film, as well,” he added.

READ MORE: How The Surprising Moral Strength Of Hannibal Helps To Make It One Of TV's Best Dramas

Keep hope alive folks, and Fuller says that the social campaigns are helping let people know there's audience interest.

‘Hannibal’ Season 4? Bryan Fuller Hints at Amazon, Netflix Discussions
June 24, 2015 | 05:57PM PT
Elizabeth Wagmeister
@EWagmeister

The news of “Hannibal’s” cancellation earlier this week sent the Twitterverse into a frenzy with a #SaveHannibal campaign, set off by creator and exec producer Bryan Fuller.

As previously reported, the daring drama has garnered much interest from other venues so Fuller gave Variety a reality check on “Hannibal’s” future: While no deals have been sealed, discussions are happening.

“I know there have been discussions on a couple of fronts with Netflix and Amazon,” Fuller says. “But I believe our deal with Amazon precludes a Netflix component so I think Netflix, who has expressed interest and has expressed great enthusiasm for the show… I don’t think contractually with our Amazon contract, they can pick up the show.”

Amazon holds the rights to the first three seasons of “Hannibal,” so it would make most sense to bring new life to the show over there, as opposed to via Netflix or perhaps another network, such as NBC-owned cablers Syfy, USA or Esquire, which are all heavy on scripted dramas as of late. (As for those NBC Universal cable properties picking up his show, Fuller says he has not heard any rumblings.)

Though Amazon is a sensible fit, problems can arise without NBC involved, as an international component is key and much funding comes from Europe, which is how Gaumont, the French studio behind “Hannibal,” championed for the current season’s renewal.

“All I know is that things are being discussed with venues to see how interested they actually are. I don’t know to what extent,” Fuller says. “Without an NBC component, it’s a little complicated. Even some of our international partners, because there’s no NBC component, will pass on a fourth season.”

The exec producer also pointed out that outside interest may feel like “Hannibal” is “someone else’s,” thus he would rather pursue original programming than continue with an established series.

Despite this season hitting a series-low 0.5 rating in adults 18-49, however, the Twitter chatter helps the chances for pickup.

“Absolutely, it helps,” Fuller says of the intense social-media support. As news of the cancellation spread, fans followed Fuller’s lead and tweeted #SaveHannibal, even launching petitions for Netflix and other streaming services to grab onto the show. Supporters including Ryan Murphy tweeted support.

I'm so sad NBC has cancelled "Hannibal." It's a fantastic fearless show and Bryan Fuller is an amazing talent. #SaveHannibal

— Ryan Murphy (@MrRPMurphy) June 23, 2015

“The fact that the fannibals have been so passionate about the show and so enthusiastic, it always helps,” Fuller added. “It may not be the thing that seals the deal, but it is an indicator of audience interest.”

If the series does get another go, Fuller would embrace the chance to continue the story and would want to stay heavily involved, balancing his exec producer duties on his upcoming Starz series “American Gods,” which was just greenlit. He’s also excited for the chance to introduce the Clarice Starling character, but just because “Hannibal” could be letting go of broadcast boundaries, don’t expect a huge shift in content.

“I don’t know how much darker we can possibly go,” Fuller says with a laugh. “The concept for the Season 4 arc is one that is inherently twisted, but also such a dynamic shift from where we were the first three seasons that there is also a broadening of the palette to include a lot more humor.”

While all discussions are in early phases, Fuller is open to many options — even a “Hannibal” movie.

“The planned arc for Season 4 is a very exciting one, so I would love to see the show continue, whether it be as a series or even condensed into a thriller as a film, as well,” Fuller says. “But with any of these things, it’s so hard to predict which way interest would fall.”

In the meantime, “Hannibal” still has a lot of life to live. Fuller and the cast are heading to Comic-Con, and new episodes air through Aug. 27. “We have 10 more episodes that we get to share and live tweet with (the fans) and discuss with them. I think this season gets progressively more dynamic and exciting,” he says. “But I would love to work with this cast again. I think we’ve assembled such a fantastic group of people, I would be a fool not to work with them again.”

‘Hannibal’ Creator Says Season 4 Would ‘Reinvent’ The Show

By Mark Lieberman

For three seasons, Hannibal has offered up spectacular weekly helpings of psychologically disturbing violence, sumptuous meals prepared from human remains, and unique performances of familiar characters like Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). At the center of this abstract, often narratively muddled show is Bryan Fuller, a veteran showrunner who also worked on quickly canceled series like Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls.

Fuller and his team got a blow this week when NBC announced that it will not be airing Hannibal past its current season. But this isn’t the end of the road for one of TV’s most disturbing shows ever. Unlike most network shows, Hannibal is co-financed by an international production company that handle the production and business side of the show, while NBC primarily handles distribution. In other words, as with many recently canceled shows like The Mindy Project and Community, Hannibal is not canceled so much as homeless until further notice.

In an apparent attempt to drum up support and interest in Hannibal season four, Fuller has been making the rounds offering his thoughts on the possibility of renewal and his plans for future seasons. He offered Vulture more insight on that matter, claiming that season four would be a departure from what fans are used to on the series (which is constantly evolving anyway):

Season four would be a reexamination and reinterpretation of the Will Graham–Hannibal Lecter relationship in a fashion that is unlike anything else we’ve done in the show. So it is, in many ways, a whole reinvention of the show, in an exciting way. And if it weren’t for the appeal of that, I would be very fine with saying, “Season three, really strange season, something to be very proud of,” and just letting it go at that.

But that the idea that I have for season four is so terrifying creatively, and also inspiring, that I feel like, “Well, let’s explore the possibility of an off-NBC season four,” because I would get a chance to work with Hugh and Mads again, and all these other great actors in these roles, and also challenge myself and the writers to do something that is once again completely different from what we’ve done in the previous three seasons.

Fuller also said his role as co-showrunner on Starz’ upcoming Neil Gaiman series adaptation American Gods does not preclude him from returning to Hannibal. It might, however, mean that a fourth season of Hannibal will be delayed by a few months (so that Fuller’s American Gods responsibilities don’t distract him from his Hannibal duties).

One place that Hannibal won’t end up, though, is Netflix. Amazon currently owns exclusive streaming rights to the first two seasons, which would put Netflix in a difficult position if it made a play for a new season of the show. Fuller has informed HitFix that he thinks there’s a 50 percent chance Hannibal will find a new home for season four, citing Amazon as an obvious possibility. He also clarified that rights issues surrounding the Clarice Starling character – who Fuller wants to incorporate into his adaptation of Thomas Harris’ universe – played no role in NBC’s decision to drop Hannibal.

Hannibal is one of the best and most unusual shows on television. It would be a shame to lose it, and it would be nice from a fan and viewer perspective if the show returns in a new home. On the other hand, the show has already skirted every possible boundary of content restriction (and gotten away with things that other network shows never have). It’s already a minor miracle that the series has lasted this long. As long as Hannibal continues on its outre paths, Fuller will have much to be proud of (regardless of a renewal or lack thereof).

‘Hannibal’: Bryan Fuller Talks Possible Resurrection on Amazon

June 25, 2015

By Dominic Patten

Almost from the moment the cancellation of Hannibal by NBC was made public on Monday, a campaign has been stridently waged to find the ratings-challenged show a new home. Out front in that campaign, both online and in the press, has been showrunner Bryan Fuller – who has seen other shows he’s created like Fox’s Wonderfalls and ABC’sPushing Daisies have their plug pulled. Amazon’s exclusive arrangement to stream the previous two seasons and the current cycle of the alluring cannibal series based on Thomas Harris’ novels, makes the rapidly swelling service seem like a good table for a saved Hannibal to sit at – if a deal can be cooked up. With 10-episodes left in Season 3 and a return to Comic-Con coming in two weeks, Fuller discussed what could happen to Hannibal, how that relates to his newAmerican Gods show, potential mini-movies and if it’s really over.

DEADLINE: How realistic is it that Hannibal can be resurrected?

FULLER: Honestly, I’m not sure. I would say 50/50. Because I’ve been down this road before and there’s that brief wave of “Oh it could be possible” and then it just doesn’t happen. But it feels like the way this particular show is set up there is potential for a deal to be done. I know conversations are being had. It’s just a matter if they can come to an agreement that is mutually beneficial to the studio and the distributor.

DEADLINE: Gaumont have a deal already in place for past seasons with Amazon, so is there any way, besides dropping a buffet of dough, that Netflix could be the new home of Hannibal?

FULLER: Not really. Netflix has been great in expressing their enthusiasm for the show but it’s just not feasible for them to pick it up. The deal with Amazon, I believe, precludes other streaming services. So that wouldn’t give Netflix what they need as a distributor in terms of first rights, etc.

DEADLINE: Even before the cancellation last week, it seemed that, with the adaptation of American Gods coming up on Starz and you co-showrunning that, you would be taking a step back from the day-to-day on Hannibal in Season 4 anyway. Was that the case?

FULLER: Yes and no. Now, the question would be for the potential new distribution partner is how comfortable they are in waiting. Because I do have an obligation to American Gods and a passion for American Gods, so I absolutely want to service that in the way that it needs to be serviced. And I’m partnered with my friend Michael Green on that and we have been very excited about the opportunity to work with each other again (they were co-EPs on Heroes together) so that’s not something I want to miss out on. So then it becomes a question of can we stagger schedules so I can feasibly do both? That will be part of the discussion if there is a new partner to be had for Hannibal – how to accommodate my dedication to American Gods.

‘Hannibal’ is this summer’s TV mirage from hell
By Jeff Simon | News Arts Editor | @JeffSimonbuffnw | Google+
on June 28, 2015 - 12:01 AM



Gusto
‘Hannibal’ is this summer’s TV mirage from hell
By Jeff Simon | News Arts Editor | @JeffSimonbuffnw | Google+
on June 28, 2015 - 12:01 AM


“No one is ever likely to replicate the tone of ‘Hannibal.’ ”

So I confidently declared in 2001 reviewing Ridley Scott’s “Hannibal,” his movie of Thomas Harris’ third novel about Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter.

One should always be wrong sometimes – the more confidently the better. It’s the only real way to learn. I wasn’t just wrong about a blanket Hollywood inability to replicate the gruesomely aestheticized tone of Ridley Scott’s movie version of “Hannibal” – a tone so bizarre and extreme that in 2000, when it was made, Jodie Foster felt she had to drop out of the project. In our new century, it has gone way beyond replication on television. It has been taken, in every wildly distinctive particularity, to even more bizarre extremes.

In Scott’s movie, it was a fantasy about Hannibal Lecter in which Ray Liotta played a fellow who was virtually sexual harassment incarnate. In the final scene of the film, Lecter has surgically removed the top of his skull, sliced off chosen pieces of his brain tissue, sauteed them in a dining room chafing dish and served them back to their grinning former owner.

“Hannibal” is, in some ways, the OMG TV show of all time. It has not been possible to watch “Hannibal” in its three seasons without a periodic jaw drop and an involuntary mutter of “what the …”

I have never before seen anything quite like it. It has become routine on prime-time TV for that scene of final horror in the movie “Hannibal” to be shown in onscreen variations on “Hannibal.” In, for instance, the second episode of “Hannibal” this season, Hannibal wasn’t removing brain parts but muscle tissue from a previously amputated arm, sauteeing it with wine, butter and mushrooms and serving it back to its former owner.

But let me confess to you that such blatant horror wasn’t what dropped my jaw, pushed me to the front of my couch and had me muttering “what the …”

It was the first two episodes’ absolute contempt for the apparent narrative rules of network prime-time crime television.

“Hannibal” was finally canceled in its third season by NBC on Monday. Its ratings had become anemic. But I wouldn’t bet the farm on it disappearing entirely just yet, after its run is finished this summer. So much lunacy and radicalism may yet urge someone else to pick it up – so flamboyant has it become and so favored by its growing cult.

I found, in reading Emily Nussbaum’s fine piece in the June 29 issue of the New Yorker, the exact quote I was looking for to encapsulate how freakishly different “Hannibal” has become from everything else that has ever been on network television. As with Ridley Scott’s surreally elegant movie only more so, it isn’t just the cannibal horror of it all that’s shocking; it’s the visual gorgeousness of James Hawkinson’s cinematography, along with the singular hallucinatory style of it all.

What Nussbaum quotes is the show’s creator and show-runner Bryan Fuller in RoberEbert.com explaining that “when he hires directors for the series, he tells them ‘this is not an episode of television. This is a pretentious art film.’ ”

Exactly. That’s a joke but it’s kidding on the square.

What I had originally wanted to write about the first episode of “Hannibal” this season is that, with Brian Reitzell’s droning electronic music and the show’s archly stylized dialogue, “Hannibal” reminds me of nothing so much as Tad Daniewlewski’s obscure 1962 adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s play “No Exit.” That starred Viveca Lindfors and, significantly, featured an electronic music score by the great pioneer in the field, Vladimir Ussachevsky.

We are, increasingly here, talking about a prime-time show on a regular broadcast network that even dogs and cats can watch without paying a cent extra to anyone.

I can’t underline enough how much of the show’s basic aesthetic seems to be derived from Scott’s 2001 adaptation of Harris’ novel “Hannibal,” even though the show itself only significantly credits Harris’ novel “Red Dragon,” the first Harris novel where characters Lecter and haunted FBI agent Will Graham first appeared.

Even so, it still reminds me every week of Sartre’s hell in that 1962 movie adaptation of that play.

Here are a few samples of dialogue from Bryan Fuller’s “Hannibal” this past Thursday:

• “Friendship with Hannibal is blackmail elevated to the level of love.”

• “Religion is not all that it’s cracked up to be, Mr. Verger. I don’t need religion to appreciate the Old Testament Idea of Revenge.”

• “Did I die” asks Will Graham’s superior Jack Scott, after a throat slicing run-in with Lecter. “You did a lot of things” replies his dying wife. “Dying may have been one of them.”

What the previous “Hannibal” episodes this season elaborated on was Lecter’s lecturing to scholars on Dante’s hell in Florence, Italy.

Entirely glossed over was the presence of Gillian Anderson, a former psychotherapist to Hannibal Lecter who is now either his wife or therapist or lover or all three. Whatever she is, she is, in an apparently hypnotic way, trapped in a hell of Hannibal Lecter’s devising – a hell all the more hellish because she still seems to harbor the delusion of Free Will.

Mads Mikkelsen plays Lecter with hopelessly foreign disengagement. We’re watching weekly visions, dreams, flashbacks, flash-forwards and endless lunatic narrative ribbons of “what the …”

All of it is guided by showrunner Bryan Fuller who once gave us the entirely different – but similarly radical and distinct – “Wonderfalls.”

No one should be surprised that NBC finally decided, after this summer, they couldn’t continue to underwrite so much shameless lunacy.

But as television art, the art it all seems most akin to is music – especially classical music of the Baroque Era.

I can’t wait to see what well-heeled TV patron now steps up and decides to underwrite another maniacally strange season of Bloody Baroque Variations on a Theme by Thomas Harris.

‘Hannibal’ Releases Cast As Show Continues To Look For New Home

by Nellie Andreeva •
July 1, 2015 6:47pm




Ten days after NBC cancelled Hannibal, the series no longer has its cast under contract. I hear that starting today, stars Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen are free agents, and they are already fielding film and TV offers. Their options expired last night and were not extended by Hannibal producer Gaumont International Television.

Still, the independent production company continues talks with potential distributors. If Hannibal finds a new home, new deals have to be hammered out with both Dancy and Mikkelsen. Still, if the show gets a new season elsewhere and the two are still available, I hear both love the show and have indicated that they would like to reprise their roles as Will Graham and Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Still, there are other, even bigger obstacles for a fourth season of Hannibal. For once, the show has an exclusive deal with Amazon, making a pact with other streaming services virtually impossible. And, more importantly, Hannibal has lost its creative force, developer/executive producer Bryan Fuller to a new series, Starz’s American Gods. He remains committed to Hannibal, but a possible fourth season has to wait for him to finish the recently ordered first season of American Gods, which would be a challenge for potential buyers.

“The question would be for the potential new distribution partner is how comfortable they are in waiting,” Fuller told Deadline last week. “Because I do have an obligation to American Gods and a passion for American Gods, so I absolutely want to service that in the way that it needs to be serviced.”

Laurence Fishburne today became the first Hannibal actor to line up a new post-cancellation gig — a starring role in A+E Networks’ Roots remake.

6 Things We Need to See Before 'Hannibal' Ends for Good
Dave Nemetz Senior Editor, Yahoo TV
July 2, 2015

It’s been more than a week since NBC announced it’s canceling the beautifully blood-drenched Hannibal, and we’re still in mourning. To be clear, we’re not giving up hope that another network could swoop in to save the day and give us a fourth season. (C'mon, Amazon: Swoop already!) But if this truly is Hannibal’s last supper, there are still a few delicacies left to be served.

Let’s look on the bright side here: There are nine episodes left in Season 3, and that gives Bryan Fuller and company plenty of time to wrap up a few storylines… and dream up a few more immaculately constructed crime scenes. So here’s our wish list of a half-dozen things we’d like to see before Hannibal claims his final victim.

1. The Red Dragon

Luckily, we already know this wish is coming true: The Hobbit’s Richard Armitage will play tattoo-covered killer Francis Dolarhyde, aka the Red Dragon, starting with the July 23 episode. And since Dolarhyde is such a key figure in the Thomas Harris books and the Lecter films, it’s great that we’ll get to see him come to life on Hannibal by season’s end.

Dolarhyde’s gory rampage will likely bring Will Graham back into the FBI fold — and he may even enlist the help of Dr. Lecter to bring this demented murderer to justice. Hannibal and Will working together to capture a common foe… how delicious would that be?

2. One more Will and Hannibal therapy scene

We know Hannibal is not Will’s therapist anymore… and after that “smile” Hannibal drew with a knife across Will’s abdomen, we doubt they’ll be sitting down for a session anytime soon. But their therapy scenes together were always a Hannibal highlight, as they mused about the fragile nature of existence and jockeyed for position inside each other’s psyches.

If they can’t be doctor and patient anymore, maybe they can just have a heart-to-heart as (gasp)… friends? Either way, we’d love to see them verbally spar one more time.

3. The backstory of Bedelia and Hannibal

Hannibal’s relationship with his own therapist Bedelia has always been intriguing, but we’ve never gotten the full story on the incident that bonded them forever: when Bedelia killed a patient in self-defense and Hannibal helped cover up the crime.

We caught a glimpse of Zachary Quinto as that patient in a flashback in the Season 3 premiere, and the fact that a big-name actor like Quinto is involved makes us think we’ll be learning more about what exactly happened — and how much Hannibal is to blame for it. Plus, that means more scenes between Mads Mikkelsen and Gillian Anderson, and that’s always a good thing.

4. One more badass fight scene

We know we’re getting this one, too, because the previews for this week’s episode show Hannibal and Jack engaged in another violent round of fisticuffs, echoing their Season 2 finale deathmatch. And Mikkelsen hinted as much to Yahoo TV when we asked him about last season’s big fight scene: “Let’s see if we don’t have something up the sleeve for you this season as well.”

So will Jack finally get the upper hand and take Hannibal into custody? Or will Hannibal finish what he started with that shard of glass to Jack’s neck last season? Either way, we’re ready to ring the bell for Round 2.

Related: Ask the Fans: ‘Hannibal’ Showrunner Bryan Fuller Responds to Your Answers

5. The capture of Hannibal?


We’re putting a question mark after that one, because we’re not even sure we actually want to see Dr. Lecter behind bars. (To separate this man from his kitchen would truly be a crime against cuisine.) But Will, Jack, and the rest of the FBI have been tracking Hannibal for three seasons now, so it’s about time they scored a victory and finally apprehended the Chesapeake Ripper.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Hannibal won’t escape and wreak bloody havoc once again. We don’t see him being caged for too long.

6. A Clarice Starling appearance

This may be held up by rights issues (MGM still holds the rights to the character), and it might require quite a leap forward in the established Lecter timeline. But Silence of the Lambs remains the most popular entry in Hannibal lore, and it’d unquestionably be a delight for fans to see some sort of nod to the steely female FBI agent played by Jodie Foster in the 1991 film.

Fuller’s well aware of that film’s legacy; he even invited Foster to direct an episode of Hannibal. So how cool would it be to see a young Clarice Starling team up with Will, and have her first encounter with Hannibal Lecter? We’d pop the cork on a nice Chianti for that.

Hannibal airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on NBC.