It looks like bad news for Hannibal fans, with producer Bryan Fuller revealing that both Netflix and Amazon have passed on the opportunity to buy up the rights to a potential fourth series of the cult TV show.

The show was cancelled by NBC last month, but hopes had remained high that the show could yet be picked up by one of the major streaming networks. However, said hopes were dampened somewhat last week with the news that stars Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy had been released from their contracts, with Fuller also accepting the role of showrunner on the new American Gods series.

Fuller went on to claim that "we're still investigating possibilities", although the withdrawal of Netflix and Amazon will represent a major disappointment. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that a rival network may yet step into the breach, but at this stage we won't be holding our breath…

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