Though its been two years since its cancellation, Hannibal’s showrunner Bryan Fuller still remains hopeful that a fourth season will happen somewhere down the line, especially since fans have been very vocal about their desire to see it.
Fuller recently was a guest on Mike Garris’ podcast Post Mortem and spoke about Hannibal’s legacy and the likelihood of its return.
“It was very likely that there wouldn’t be a fourth season after season three,” Fuller said, “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.”
Asked if that meant a fourth season could actually happen, Fuller played coy but revealed he has had talks with stars Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy on what the future could hold for them and their characters.
“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, the production company of Hannibal? Which would be the only way to do it if we wanted to use those characters.”
He also revealed an idea he had for Katherine Isabelle’s Margot Verger. She was the sister of villain Mason Verger, but in season 3 she and Alana Bloom killed Mason, framing the murder on Hannibal (with his blessing), and Margot took control of the Verger fortune and meat packing business. It seems in season four she would play a bigger role with her own storyline.
“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 heir and in control of the Verger meat packing industry. I wanted her to be like Joan Crawford at Pepsi saying “Don’t Fuck 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.”
If a fourth season were to happen, it probably would not be for a long while as Fuller is currently acting as producer and showrunner on American Gods, the Neil Gaiman adaptation for Starz, which was just renewed for a second season. Hopefully though Hannibal will return in some way eventually.