It seems incredible to think that no network or streaming service has taken a punt on reviving Hannibal, given the massive built-in audience that the series has. Of course, NBC originally canceled Bryan Fuller’s phenomenal psychological thriller due to low ratings after shunting it into a graveyard slot, but in the five years since it was axed, the show’s fanbase has grown exponentially.
When all three seasons were added to the Netflix library, Hannibal quickly became one of the most popular titles on the streaming service and remained on the Top 10 most-watched list for weeks. The company have gotten rid of a massive number of original shows this year, presumably due to a lack of audience interest failing to justify the production costs, but a new run of episodes continuing the story of Mads Mikkelsen’s Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy’s Will Graham would no doubt be appointment viewing for subscribers around the world.
Fans even thought Netflix might’ve been planning a revival after making some technical changes to several episodes, but those hopes were rooted more in expectation than reality. The cast and crew have never given up on the idea of returning to the richly detailed world, though, and in a recent interview, Mikkelsen admitted that he’d love for Hannibal to finally get around to tackling Silence of the Lambs.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that if it does happen, we would love to go into Silence of the Lambs. That’s always been an issue because they didn’t have the rights for that book. But that’s obviously the most famous part and we’d love to go in there. We’d obviously switch it around a little and do all kinds of crazy stuff with it. That story is so interesting and the characters in it are as interesting. We’d switch around the genders and maybe even put two characters into one. We would love to find someone to play Buffalo Bill. That’s going to be tough. We found a Hannibal, so it’s possible.”
Fuller has admitted in the past that he never managed to secure the rights to Thomas Harris’ most popular novel, and CBS are developing a spinoff of their own focusing on Clarice Starling, so even if Hannibal does get brought back to the airwaves for a fourth season, then it still remains unlikely that the iconic tale would be adapted. Still, fans won’t mind as long as the show returns in some form.
