Ricky Church on the future of Hannibal…
On Monday NBC broke many hearts as they announced they were cancelling Hannibal once its current season wraps up. While it is very disappointing, it’s certainly not surprising given the fact Hannibal has always struggled for ratings due to its late time slot and often changing place in the schedule. That doesn’t make it any less unfortunate for fans, but one could say the writing has been on the wall for a long time now. With Season 3 giving Hannibal its lowest ratings yet, NBC finally gave it the axe.
One of the reasons Hannibal lasted so long at NBC was because it’s an international co-production between companies, giving NBC a low-cost risk when they renewed the series for its second and third seasons since they didn’t fully finance the show. Now that NBC has cancelled it, there are several options available for the people behind Hannibal’s production to continue on with a fourth season, giving fans of the series much-needed hope.
Hannibal has always seemed more at home on a cable channel than a network due to its graphic content, high concepts and serialized story. While HBO and Showtime would be out of the running, a lot of discussion has been brought up around online streaming, a format which has only grown more popular in the last few years. Hannibal wouldn’t be the first show to be brought back to a streaming provider either. Arrested Development did its fourth season on Netflix and, more recently, Community went to Yahoo! for its sixth season. Streaming is definitely a strong possibility for Hannibal’s resurrection.
Many people assumed Amazon would be a prime location for Hannibal to go. Amazon has been looking for televised content to produce and scored big at the Golden Globes with Transparent. They also have streaming rights to Hannibal so it seemed like a good shoe in. Unfortunately, Amazon is apparently not interested in picking it up as they want to develop strictly original content. Considering Amazon is now producing Zelda with Christina Ricci starring as novelist Zelda Fitzgerald and just bought Kevin Spacey’s film Elvis & Nixon, Hannibal is not in their wheelhouse, especially for a show three seasons in.
Hulu is a fairly strong contender to pick up Hannibal as well. It recently gained The Mindy Project after Fox cancelled it so they have no problems regarding taking on a show with a couple of seasons already produced elsewhere. Hannibal also proved to be quite popular for Hulu as it won its Best in Show award over Parks and Recreation. Seeing as fans voted directly to Hannibal’s win, Hulu must see how popular it is and may consider picking it up to broaden their own original programming.
One factor that could both help or hinder Hulu gaining Hannibal is the fact NBC co-owns Hulu. The streaming service is a joint partnership between NBC, Fox and Disney-ABC. Since NBC does have a say in Hulu’s programming, their opinion would be quite strong to the provider. If NBC truly wants to get rid of Hannibal, Hulu might not be the best place for it. However, this same situation didn’t stop Fox from letting Hulu take The Mindy Project so perhaps history can repeat itself.
Netflix seems like the most obvious choice to pick Hannibal up. They’ve had great success with their original content House of Cards and Orange is the New Black and are no strangers to gaining cancelled shows as they’ve resurrected Arrested Development and The Killing for further seasons. Netflix is also much more popular and has a greater reach and recognizable brand than either Hulu or Amazon Studios. Hannibal has proven to be quite popular on Netflix since its two seasons have gained them a lot of numbers. The show’s story, stars and behind the scenes talent seem to be everything Netflix would want for a show of their own. However, because of House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Sense8 and the second season of Daredevil along with the other Marvel shows, Netflix may not be able to afford Hannibal at this time.
Hannibal is one of the best-looking series on television at the moment with excellent writing and acting. Hopefully it will find a home soon so Bryan Fuller and company can continue telling tales of Hannibal the Cannibal with a fourth season and beyond. For now, though, Hannibal’s third season should be enjoyed, especially if this will be its swan song.
Ricky Church
https://youtu.be/yIuEu1m0p2M?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published June 24, 2015. Updated November 7, 2019.
