It was never really mentioned out loud, but Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal always tended to lean into the unspoken sexual tension between Mads Mikkelsen’s Dr. Lecter and Hugh Dancy’s Will Graham. Naturally, the fans had a field day every time the two locked eyes for their latest smoldering staring contest, and it certainly added an intriguing wrinkle to the dynamic between the central pairing.
They were friends, rivals and enemies across the course of the series, with those allegiances often shifting multiple times in a single episode, but there was always a deep respect between the two that could have easily been mined for romantic purposes should the creative team have wanted to take things in that direction.
In a new interview, Mikkelsen revealed that he and Dancy toyed with the idea of closing out the season 3 finale with a passionate embrace at one point, but everyone knew it would never make the final cut so they didn’t go through with it.
We actually did a couple of takes of the very last scene where we were looking at each other, and it was a little too obvious, it was almost a kiss. Me and Hugh were like, ‘Why not? We have a couple of takes. Let’s do one. It might be cool’. We never went for the kiss. Bryan loved it, but he was like, ‘Too much, guys. It’s too obvious’. And he was absolutely right. I think we were just stuck on that. And a lot of the Fannibals wanted it as well. It’s been a subject of homoerotic fan art. And for good reason, because they are so united as twins in many ways. But we never wanted it to be a physical thing. It was something much bigger than that.”
Mikkelsen is right in saying that the relationship between Hannibal and Will didn’t need any sort of physical entanglement to make it work, because the subtext was basically pouring out of the screen as it was. Sadly, no network or streamer has taken the plunge on renewing the show for a fourth run, and as we approach the sixth anniversary of its cancellation, the chances of new episodes only grow more and more remote.
That being said, Mikkelsen and Fuller continue the champion the cause in almost any interview they do when the subject of Hannibal comes up, and the fanbase certainly isn’t going to give up on their hopes of seeing season 4 somewhere, someday in the future.
