Back in April Hugh Dancy threw a crushing blow into the hearts of those hoping for an imminent “Hannibal” return by stating that it’s something they could revisit in four years. Why is three to four years the constant in all the chatter? I have no idea, but one thing is for certain, everyone involved wants to see it resurrected.
The latest to throw out a number is Mads Mikkelsen, who played the title character in the NBC series that lasted three seasons.
He remains confident that, will the help of creator Bryan Fuller’s immense passion, the show will find a new life “within the next two to three years.”
When asked whether the series still has the potential to be picked up by another network, the actor revealed that the ball is firmly in show creator Bryan Fuller’s court.
“It all depends on Bryan. He is the key, the base, the heart,” Mikkelsen said. “We will wait and see what happens next in his career. But we all know that we can easily pick this up in two or three years, there are breaks in the stories. We could pick it up, say, four years later. If Bryan is up for it, we will all go for it.”
But will Fuller be up for it?
“He loved it. It was his baby. Let’s wait and see,” the 50-year-old actor teased, a knowing glint in his eye.
It’s rare to see such passion in a cast post mortem, which is one of the things that makes believing in a reunion so plausible.
Mikkelsen describes how much is hurt to find out they were canceled, as everyone was certain they would at least make it through the “Silent of the Lambs” storyline.
“We are all angry. We were pissed. It’s madness,” the Danish actor said of the cancellation. “And season four was actually the one we thought we’d definitely get. Seasons two and three were on the verge. We didn’t know whether Hannibal would be renewed. But by the time we got to season four we thought it was a definite. We were very surprised at the decision.
“We were happy to be able to do it for as long as we did. However, we felt there were more stories. We thought we ended the show in a great way, but we had more to tell.”
When asked precisely what these stories were, Mikkelsen quipped: “I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.”
The fourth season was to tell the most famous story of them all, “The Silence of the Lambs,” although there were rumors of rights issue potentially throwing a wrench in the spokes. Maybe this “break” is secretly all part of the plan as they try to resolve these mysterious rights issues that have been slyly hidden within a lot of the press.