‘Hannibal’ season 4 hopes dim somewhat; Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, cast let out of contracts
The road for there to potentially be a fourth season of “Hannibal” just got a little bit bumpier. We knew that NBC canceled the show late last month, and we are now hearing that studio Gaumont International Television has chosen not to pick up the contracts of Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, and the rest of the cast. In making this move, it frees them up to do a variety of other TV and movie possibilities. (One cast member in Laurence Fishburne already has another gig in the upcoming “Roots” projects for A+E Networks.)
According to Deadline, the silver lining here is that while getting a fourth season will require new negotiations with the series leads, both Mikkelsen and Dancy reportedly love doing the show and would want to continue making it. Therefore, resigning them should not be too big of a problem unless they have other schedule commitments. One other challenge could be Bryan Fuller, who is working next on “American Gods,” and it may take waiting until he is through working on that show’s first season until he can focus his energy once again on “Hannibal.”
One other issue the show still has in finding a new home is that because of the exclusive-streaming deal that Amazon has with the show, it rules out most other streaming providers as likely destinations for the show. Sure, Netflix or Hulu is hypothetically possible, but it would be extremely difficult thanks to the Amazon deal. We heard rumors based on customer responses that Amazon is not interested in picking up the show themselves, but we’re not going to put much stock into some sort of form reply to customers that the company may make. To us, they are still the likely destination for future episodes … eventually.
Ultimately, we’ve probably been perhaps a tad too optimistic in the future of “Hannibal,” partially because of our own extreme love for the show in all forms. Still, we do think that it is possible, whether on Amazon or a network like AMC, FX, IFC, or WGN America. Just don’t expect an answer to come quickly.
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