‘Hannibal’ season 4: Bryan Fuller explains when series’ future can be explored

It’s pretty rough to think that we are a little over a year now since NBC first canceled “Hannibal,” which remains to us one of the best shows of the past several years. Unfortunately, it never got the audience it deserved, despite being visually arresting, wonderfully-scripted, and having amazing performances from the likes of Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen.

We’ve known for the past year that the show’s leads are interested in continuing the story, but there are a wide array of issues that keep it from happening … starting with the question of streaming rights. Amazon holds these said rights, and when they opted to not pick up the show, they really made it tricky for the series to find a home elsewhere. However, creator Bryan Fuller made it clear recently at the Saturn Awards (per Collider) that there is an expiration date on many rights that could open up the options:

“Two years after the last airing of the show, we can investigate our options […] August 2017 is when we can actually start talking about it. That’s when we would have to see what the rights are for the character and for the story, and see who’s interested and how we get it done. I have the story, and the cast is excited for the story, so we’re ready to go if somebody wants to go.”

Sure, that is a long time to wait, but a little bit of hope is better than no hope at all, right? One of the other great things about hearing this now is that it’s coming after “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Prison Break,” and “Gilmore Girls” all were revived after significant layoffs. Maybe “Hannibal” wasn’t a runaway hit like any of these shows, but it does give you a further bit of hope that a future is out there.