TV Revivals: Revisiting ‘Hannibal’ season 4 — and having hope — once more

Last year, we embarked on a mission here at CarterMatt to bring you a wide array of different TV Revivals pieces over the course of the month of February, and it proved to be a fun experiment! While we don’t come into these articles with any sort of advance knowledge as to whether or not these shows will come back, at the same exact time we like to chart a course to figure out how it can happen.

Given our obvious love of “Hannibal” on the site (we talk about it whenever we can, not to mention little Easter eggs that we throw into articles every now and then), it only seems appropriate that we start by profiling this show for the second straight year. It also had one of the crueler cancellations out there; it’s not that we blame NBC given that the ratings for the show weren’t great at the time it was axed, but it’s more that the place in which the story ended — with Hannibal and Will Graham careening off of a cliff. We know that for one, The Silence of the Lambs is still coming in the canon. Also, this is very close to being the most literal uses of the word “cliffhanger” in television history. (It’s technically more like “cliffdiver” given what’s happening to the characters at the moment.

Progress since last year – We’ve heard from both Bryan Fuller (executive producer) and star Hugh Dancy that the interest in bringing the show back is still there; however, they both have separate projects at the moment in “American Gods” / “Amazing Stories” and “The Path.” That has their schedule jammed up for a little while.

How it can be brought back – In terms of the story, it’s not hard to figure this out. You tell the story of the next book, but incorporate more of the Clarice story into Will Graham’s to ensure that he still has a large role in the project. The larger challenge comes via figuring out a way to secure the cast and the crew once more.

If we were to organize this behind the scenes, we’d argue that the best route is to go the “Sherlock” route — film either three 90-minute episodes or six 45-minute chapters, and then have the show come back every few years when there’s enough time in everyone’s schedules. (Remember, Mads Mikkelsen is seemingly in demand by every movie under the sun these days.) This keeps the flexibility for everyone involved, and it also fits in naturally with some of the time jumps that are going to be necessary to keep the show in line with some of the source material.

We don’t imagine that there will be a time where it comes back with a thirteen-episode season again; with that said, some “Hannibal” is far better than no “Hannibal” at all.

Can it happen? – In theory, yes. If this was still all about getting the cast and crew back together, we have a feeling that everyone would get back on board as soon as they all could. Funding remains the key hurdle. Amazon (who’s owned the show’s streaming rights) haven’t shown an interest, but maybe once those rights expire someone else could be more inclined to jump on board. Netflix is a provider that has clearly shown an interest in reviving shows, and when you look at “American Gods,” it’s pretty clear that there is a strong relationship at present between Fuller and Starz. If this show turns out to be a big hit, it makes the odds all the higher that the show could come on the air there in the future.

Do you want to see “Hannibal” back on TV? Let us know in the comments.