‘Hannibal’ season 4: Amazon on decision not to renew series

Amazon is holding their presentation today at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, and while it is not even one of their shows, it was not exactly much of a surprise to learn that there were at least a question or two regarding “Hannibal” and their decision not to pick the show up. Amazon already had the exclusive streaming rights, and some out there believed that this was the best chance for the Hugh Dancy series to get a shot at staying on the air.

So how did Amazon explain themselves on this subject? The tweet HERE from Elizabeth Wagmeister of Variety makes it pretty clear: Executives at the company are more intent on making originals into their calling card more than just reviving other shows.

Do we understand this move? Yes and no. Obviously Amazon has a great thing going with “Transparent,” and there are high hopes for the Ron Perlman show “Hand of God.” However, at the same time Netflix has brought back shows like “Arrested Development” and are reviving “Longmire” and “Fuller House,” and that has made them even more beloved to many.

Our feeling is this: You want new programming, but you want to get the audience to watch some of that. Bringing on establish franchises can give you subscribers, and then you can promote your originals through some of that. It is just our two cents. We’d actually be okay more with Amazon if they said that it was a ratings decision more than anything else. We know that the show’s numbers are pretty awful, so it would make some sense. (We do know that there have also been questions / concerns out there about the time it would take Amazon to receive a “Hannibal” season thanks to Bryan Fuller working on “American Gods,” but the whole “we’re prioritizing original content” narrative from Amazon is something we’ve been hearing about long before the “American Gods” issue arose.)