NBCsurprised everyone on Monday after they announced the cancellation of theirTV show, Hannibal, which featured Mads Mikkelsen as the most famous fictionalserial killer of our time, Hannibal Lecter. NBC of course will air all theremaining episodes of Hannibal’s ongoing third season before they say goodbyeto Bryan Fuller’s TV-show.
Hannibalwas about as unique as a network series could get. Although it aired on NBC, itsstructure resembled cable shows with every season consisting of only 13episodes. This allowed the show to spend more money on visual effects and highquality storytelling, as the phenomenal play of Mads Mikkelsen became recognized by the viewers and critics alike.
Althoughthe announcement came suddenly, implying that things got roughbetween Bryan Fuller and NBC, it turned out that the parties have parted wayspeacefully. Mr. Fuller thanked NBC for the opportunity that they saw in the TV show even after every other channel skipped the project.The creator remained hopeful that one day he’ll get the chance to once againwork with NBC on another TV show.
Hannibal’sreign on NBC is certainly set to end after the current season finale, but the show’s fateremains open. Just hours after the shocking announcements, fans of the showalready started a petition online to save their beloved TV series. As ofTuesday afternoon more than 27,000 people signed the petition, hoping for thebest.
A return toNBC is out of the question, but the show still has many options to survive.Hannibal’s success and big fan base may have opened up the eyes for some cablechannels that are in dire need of a new hit in their programming schedule. Ifnone of those take a chance on Hannibal, Netflix may still play the role of thesavior as it did before with season 3 of The Killing.
Although most of thesepetitions end up futile, there have been some cases from history whichsucceeded, e.g. Jericho season 2.
Still,there’s a big chance that Hannibal cannot be saved. It’s kind of sad because itwas certainly extraordinary as far as criminal TV shows go. On the other hand, withBryan Fuller’s American Gods adaptation coming out next year, this opens the door for Mads Mikkelsen to play the character Wednesday, if he ever wants to return to theworld of TV shows.
