Bryan Fuller, creator of the NBC TV series Hannibal, has finally revealed why a fourth season of the highly acclaimed show was never produced. Years of fan demands for a revival have resulted in nothing, and now we know why: According to Fuller, it’s all about the rights to the intellectual property surrounding the series.
The subject came up when Fuller recently sat down to chat with Screen Rant about his latest film project, Dust Bunny. The film, which lands in theaters this December, reunites the showrunner with Hannibal star Mads Mikkelsen. While discussing the movie — which he also wrote — Fuller opened up about the future of Hannibal. He didn’t shoot down the possibility of a revival, but he also explained that the rights issue is complicated enough to keep the series shelved:
“Well, it’s complicated now because Martha De Laurentiis died, and she had a certain section of the rights, and now, Thomas Harris is trying to get the rights all under one umbrella. And I think that’s going to take a couple of years of straightening out. But the entire cast wants to come back: Mads, Hugh, Laurence, Katie, Caroline – like everybody’s in. It’s just a matter of: Will the rights be able to be figured out again?”
Hannibal ran for three seasons between 2013 and 2015, airing 39 episodes that followed protagonist Will Graham’s journey while trying to thwart cannibal/chef/doctor Hannibal Lecter’s efforts to possess Graham’s body and consume him. The series starred Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy in the roles of Lecter and Graham, respectively. Joining them were Laurence Fishburne, Katharine Isabelle, Caroline Dhavernas, Scott Thompson, Gillian Anderson, Aaron Abrams, Hetienne Park, Raúl Esparza, Eddie Izzard, and Gina Torres. On Rotten Tomatoes, Hannibal holds an average critics’ score of 93%, while the audience rating sits slightly higher at 94%.
‘Hannibal’ Was Canceled, But Its Strong Cult Following Remains Unmatched
Hannibal is widely regarded as one of the best TV series ever made, and frankly, it’s hard to argue against that. Besides putting a fresh spin on the Hannibal Lecter franchise, which hadn’t delivered anything notable in years, Hannibal managed to become its own thing — a delightful approach to the horror genre that felt far more elegant than other thriller series of the modern era.
From the performances to the singular visual style of its production, everything in the show worked. NBC had an apparent disregard for it, but its impact remains unmatched, with many fans still campaigning for its return. If other shows, like Prison Break and The X-Files, were eventually revived by creators after hammering out agreements, what’s stopping Hannibal’s various rightsholders from finding a way to do the same? “A couple of years” sounds like too much time for those who’ve already been waiting ten years for the good doctor’s saga to resume.
