NBC Cancels HANNIBAL, But Could It Find New Life Elsewhere?

TV NBC Hannibal about 8 years agoby Ben Pearson

Bad news for fans of Bryan Fuller's Hannibal: Variety reports that NBC has cancelled the series. Its 13-episode third season will continue to air as planned on the network (the season three premiere was on June 4th), but Mads Mikkelsen's version of one of the greatest villains of all time won't take a bite out of anything else on the Peacock. Variety says that the September 3rd finale will also serve as the series finale, but take a look at the statement Fuller released in response to the cancellation:

“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."

Obviously, the key line there is "a hungry cannibal can always dine again." Is he hinting at new life for the series elsewhere, possibly at a place like Netflix (which has resurrected plenty of once-dead properties already)? Maybe, but he could simply be referring to his own career, mentioning how he's looking forward to working with the network again on something else. I feel like shows with smaller fan bases and less impressive casts than Hannibal have been revived before, so if I had to guess, I'd say we haven't seen the last of this series — but it's going to mean that fans are going to have to be extremely vocal to prove that there's still an audience for it.

If a resurrection isn't in the cards, one of the only positive elements fans can probably take from this is that by no longer being the showrunner on Hannibal, it will give Fuller more time to devote to bringing Neil Gaiman's American Gods to life over at Starz.