NBC may be done with Hannibal, but creator Bryan Fuller isn't letting the series fade away without a fight. Within the past 24 hours, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, and Hitfix have published original interviews with Fuller, shedding light on where Hannibal currently stands, and offering "fannibals" some hope for the show's possible resurrection in the future.
Here are the key takeaways from the rash of interviews:
- There's "maybe a 50/50 chance" that Hannibal will return in some form, Fuller told HitFix — an estimate he repeated to Deadline. But he repeatedly reiterated that multiple, distinct "conversations" about the possibility of resurrecting Hannibal are being conducted right now.
- So what's the next logical home for the series, anyway? In an interview with Variety, Fuller conceded that there have been "discussions on a couple of fronts with Netflix and Amazon." But of the two, Amazon has the edge; Amazon holds exclusive streaming rights to Hannibal's first three seasons, and Fuller believes the Amazon deal precludes Netflix's ability to make a move on the series. (Historically, Fuller's analysis bears out; when Netflix revived Arrested Development and The Killing, it held the streaming rights to their earlier seasons, allowing Netflix subscribers the chance to catch up before the new seasons arrived.)
- Though Fuller recently scored another big deal as one of the two showrunners for Starz's upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, his responsibilities on the new show wouldn't preclude his ability to work on Hannibal. "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," he told The Hollywood Reporter.
- If Hannibal doesn't return as a TV series, Fuller would be interested in making a Hannibal movie using the show's cast. "Obviously there is something appealing about seeing a full circle back to the big screen with this cast," he told Deadline, adding to The Hollywood Reporter that the already-planned fourth season arc would make "a wonderful psychological thriller" if it was condensed into a movie.
- If this really is the end of Hannibal, Fuller thinks fans will be satisfied by the closure offered by the final episode. "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," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "Absolutely there's a version of me that would be comfortable with it being the final season," he told Deadline. "It’s ready to be over if it needs to be."
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