Despite being canceled over two years ago, and another home for the series unable to be found, Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller hasn’t given up hope on another season of the serial killer series. Speaking with filmmaker Mick Garris on his podcast Post Mortem, Fuller first spoke about how things didn’t look good for a fourth season, but he remains hopeful.
“It was very likely that there wouldn’t be a fourth season (after season three), because I felt like we were running out of rope and NBC had kept us on the air for three years with numbers that nobody would have kept us on the air for. So I’m very grateful for those three years, but I felt like it would be shocking if we got a fourth season and we didn’t… yet.”
When asked if that meant it was still a possibility for the series to return, he said:
“I have conversations with (Hannibal executive producer) Martha De Laurentiis. I have conversations with Mads and Hugh. We’re all excited about the prospect of returning to the story. There’s some hurdles to get through. The rights revert back to Martha in September I believe and then it’s a matter of do we do it with Gaumont (production company of Hannibal)? Which would be the only way to do it if we wanted to use those characters….”
Fuller continued, talking about one idea in particular he had for the season, saying:
“I just had a great idea for season 4… There’s an interesting next chapter in the relationship between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter that would be fascinating to unpack. I’ve shared it with the gentlemen and they’re both keen on it. There’s a whole storyline that I want to do with Katie Isabelle’s character Margot Verger, who we know is mother of the Verger air and in control of the Verger meat packing industry. I wanted her to be like Joan Crawford at Pepsi saying Don’t F*ck with me fellas” and just humanize all of the Verger meat packing plants and turn them over to PETA approved… That would definitely be marbled through the season, Margot Verger taking down the meat industry as a hot, powerful lesbian.”
The creator remains busy on the Starz series American Gods, which has already been renewed for a second season. Fuller also previously spoke about his ideas for a Silence of the Lambs-based season for the show, which was previously a hiccup for them during the show’s run since they didn’t own the rights to the book.
Based on the characters from Thomas’ Harris novel Red Dragon, Hannibal starred Mads Mikkelsen as the title serial killer with Hugh Dancy as FBI profiler Will Graham. The series also starred Caroline Dhavernas, Hettienne Park, Laurence Fishburne, Scott Thompson, Dan Fogler, Gillian Anderson and guest arcs by Eddie Izzard, Michael Pitt, and Richard Armitage.
