Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller recently urged fans to sign an online petition for a fourth season of the cult NBC horror-thriller TV series
Fuller, who developed the show based on Thomas Harris' novels Red Dragon, Hannibal and Hannibal Rising, endorsed the Hannibal Season 4 petition on Twitter. Created by Trend Hannibal and hosted on change.org, the petition calls for either HBO Max, Netflix or Prime Video to complete the unfinished story of criminal profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and psychiatrist/cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen). Its organizers also cite the recent revival of similar shows such as Dexter and the proliferation of openly LGBTQ+ media as evidence that a Hannibal renewal could succeed.
NBC canceled Hannibal in 2015 after the show's critical success failed to convert into equally strong ratings. That said, the series reportedly found a larger audience once all three seasons began streaming on Netflix. Mikkelsen confirmed in January 2021 that this streaming resurgence reignited ongoing discussions about renewing Hannibal for a belated fourth season. "[T]he talks have been revitalized… I don’t think you’d find a member of the cast that is still alive that would say, 'No, thanks.' We all enjoyed it tremendously," he said.
More recently, Fuller shared his biggest regret from Hannibal Season 3 was not including a kiss scene between Will and Hannibal, something he would presumably seek to rectify if given the chance to oversee a fourth season. Fuller explained that this moment would have appeared in Season 3, Episode 10, "The Wrath of the Lamb," and didn't involve Mikkelsen and Dancy actually locking lips. "Mads's lips parted, hovering over Will's mouth in a way that went on... For a while. When I was watching dailies, it seemed like an eternity," he said.
Mikkelsen previously described filming this scene in "The Wrath of the Lamb," offering an account that matches Fuller's own. "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," he said. "Me and Hugh were like, 'Why not? We have a couple of takes. Let’s do one. It might be cool.'"
The star revealed that added that while Fuller appreciated the near-kiss between Will and Hannibal, Hannibal's executive producer and showrunner ultimately dropped it from the finished episode, feeling it was too much. Mikkelson insisted he supported Fuller's decision, noting that everyone working on the show saw the Will/Hannibal dynamic as "something much bigger than [a physical relationship]."
Source: Twitter