When NBC cancelled Hannibal for low ratings after three seasons last June, the Fannibals lost their minds. The show got the cancellation notice too late to really wrap the series up, and, as such, ended on a huge cliffhanger. The fans have been hoping that Season 4 is still somehow possible, though. And now, thanks to Hannibal creator and showrunner Bryan Fuller, we know when we can start to hear news about whether or not that new season will happen.
Two years after the last airing of the show, we can investigate our options...August 2017 is when we can actually start talking about it. That's when we would have to see what the rights are for the character and for the story, and see who's interested and how we get it done. I have the story, and the cast is excited for the story, so we're ready to go if somebody wants to go.
There you have it Fannibals. Bryan Fuller spoke with Collider at the Saturn Awards this week, and revealed that we're a little over a year away from being able to find out if a cliffhanger-resolving Hannibal Season 4 will ever come to pass. The major issue currently standing in the way of Season 4 is who holds the actual rights to what characters and any new stories using them that would be told. For instance, streaming rights for the series were held by Amazon at the time of NBC's cancellation, which made it impossible for outlets like Hulu or Netflix to pick the show up and give it a new season. Fuller says that it takes two years from the time the show ended, which was August 29, 2015, to find out what kind of options would be available for the show as far as shopping a fourth season around and getting it to air on another network, or streaming site.
The finale, and lack of an immediate renewal, tried the patience of many fans. The series ended with Will and Hannibal in a massive three-way showdown with The Tooth Fairy, another serial killer who bites his victims. Between shooting and stabbing, Will and Hannibal were each seriously wounded, and the final moments of the series ended with Will grabbing Hannibal and taking them both over the cliff near Hannibal's holiday home. While the ending certainly took their twisty, love/hate relationship to bloody new levels, it also didn't leave a lot of room for either to survive, or, at least, to possibly explain how they could have survived the epic fall. Viewers are, understandably, anxious to see what could have happened next.
While it seems like a little over a year is an unbelievably long time to wait on news of Hannibal Season 4, let's remember that several shows have come back for more after a long time off the air. The X-Files had a blockbuster short return this year after originally ending its run in 2002; Curb Your Enthusiasm is coming back after being gone for five years, and Prison Break is currently filming a return after ending in 2009. So, it's not impossible that we could actually see Season 4 of Hannibal in the near-ish future. All we have to do now is wait and see.
