Creator Bryan Fuller remains hopeful after NBC cancelation

Jul 7, 2015 14:37 GMT  ·  By
Netflix and Amazon pass on the chance to pick up "Hannibal" for season 4, fans have little hope to hold on to
   Netflix and Amazon pass on the chance to pick up "Hannibal" for season 4, fans have little hope to hold on to

Two weeks ago, NBC announced that it would not be renewing the series “Hannibal” for a fourth season: once the third one was done airing, it would be done for good. The only ray of hope for the fans, as few as they might have been, came from producers’ promise that they would try to find a new home for the series.

After all, this wouldn’t be the first time that a series got the axe on one network because of disappointing ratings, only to continue with an even better viewership on another one.

Little hope on the horizon

Sadly, for “Hannibal,” this won’t happen with Amazon or Netflix, series creator Byran Fuller confirms on his Twitter feed. He remains hopeful that a new home for the show will be found, but at this point, things are not looking good for it.

As Slash Film explains, the complications might be too much to handle for a new network or platform, no matter how hard fans campaign for a renewal. Amazon holds the exclusive rights for the first 3 seasons, so it was considered a favorite in being the one to pick it up.

It did not. Fuller had previously said that a deal with Amazon would be difficult “without the NBC component,” and this actually turned out to be true.

On the other hand, because Amazon has the rights over the first 3 seasons, Netflix probably passed on the fourth: it made little sense to pick it halfway if they couldn’t get the full package.

Making matters even more complicated, Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy’s contracts are probably up and need renegotiating. So even if the show is picked up, they might still not be on board unless they can get a pay rise or at least keep the salaries they were getting from NBC.

If you too are among the fans hoping for “Hannibal” to find a new home, getting vocal on social media (under the #SaveHannibal hashtag) will probably help. Don’t get your hopes too high, though.