NBC’s often visually stunning, thematically engaging and richly performed “Hannibal” ended its critically acclaimed three-season run in 2015, not on a cliffhanger, but certainly on a cliff.
The series, having adapted elements from all the Thomas Harris Hannibal Lecter books (except “The Silence of the Lambs” due to rights issues), followed the interesting relationship between Hugh Dancy’s Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen’s Hannibal Lecter.
When the show was axed after three seasons, its fanbase quickly called for a fourth season, and more recently a revival – hoping that Will and Hannibal’s story wasn’t quite over despite the finale’s swan dive.
Though those involved have expressed interest in returning, there’s never been any reports of genuine, serious movement on it. This week whilst out promoting his role on “Law & Order,” actor Hugh Dancy spoke with Collider about the calls for a fourth season and why it hasn’t happened yet:
“[W]e keep saying, when we get asked, ‘Oh, we’d love to do it,’ which is true. Maybe it’ll take one of us to say, ‘I will absolutely never do a fourth season of Hannibal,’ but that would be a lie.
I’m not exactly surprised [it hasn’t happened yet] because essentially, first and foremost, somebody has to write a fairly sizable check. I’m not talking about me being paid. I’m talking about the cost of making a season of television.
For a while, it seemed like the streamers were gonna be everybody’s saviour, in that respect, but now there’s been a cutoff there. There are shows that are watched by millions of people that don’t make it past a second season. So, I have no idea what that calculation is.”
Asked if he would ever lose interest in playing the character or hoping for more, Dancy responded: “We may literally just age out of it, and the people online will start to say, ‘Well, actually, that might be slightly gross’. Dancy adds that the third season ended in a “fairly conclusive fashion”.
