Let’s keep fighting for Hugh Dancy and Mads in ‘Hannibal’ season 4

Sometimes, some days, when life just feels too hard, who doesn’t want to eat the rude? In our current cultural climate, isn’t it time we let the highest upholder of manners, deportment, and civility Dr. Hannibal Lecter loose on the ingrates of the world? It’s time, Fannibals: we’ve got to get this show on the road and ensure that Hannibal S4 happens.

Renew Hannibal

Why? Well for starters, who doesn’t love a little bit of cannibalism? Hannibal came into our hearts, rocked our world, and just as it was getting good, was ripped away from us by NBC. Creator Bryan Fuller brought to life one of the best horror shows on television of the last decade, surrounding one of the most dastardly people in all media: Hannibal Lecter.

Mads Mikkelsen’s portrayal of Hannibal is horrifying – yet charming. You want nothing to do with him, but nevertheless want to sit down and have a murderous meal with him. His process of taking down the FBI’s investigation from the inside is so manipulative, yet spectacular to watch. Of course, all of this wouldn’t be functional without his murder husband, Will Graham.

Every great villain needs an equally great partner. Hugh Dancy’s Will Graham allows for the humanization of Hannibal and gives the show meaning. Hannibal would have nothing if it didn’t have Will and Hannibal’s emotional connection. The two bond in ways we can’t understand over the series, as Will becomes fascinated with the way Hannibal works in tandem to the criminals he interviews.

There is nothing and probably will be nothing like Hannibal on TV ever again. Bryan Fuller made something special in this personal look at one of horror’s greatest icons. When Hannibal ended back in 2015, Fuller was adamant about shopping the show around for another season. Amazon Prime and Netflix both reportedly expressed interest, but deals fell through with both streaming services.

What’s the next step for Hannibal ?

Bryan Fuller keeps telling fans to hold out hope, so it’s time we take matters into our own hands. Hannibal deserves to live again, especially if the next season takes on the iconic Silence of the Lambs plot from the Red Dragon series. We at Film Daily know quite a thing or two about the fight to save a quality show, so we think we know just what Hannibal needs.

This is where the Fannibals come in. It’s great that so many people want to bring back Hannibal for another season – but your voices need to be louder. We’re talking petitions (like this one with over 90,000 signatures), rewatch campaigns, blowing up fan votes, and of course, Twitter campaigns.

#SaveSaturdays Rewatch Challenge

We’ve talked about our rewatch challenge before, but we mean it: set up times for the entire fandom to come together and rewatch Hannibal. Even if you only do one or two episodes at a time, the amount of Fannibals watching at once can make some noise on social media. For those inside the US, all of Hannibal is available on Amazon Prime.

Find Hannibal a new home

Sure, tweeting every streaming service and network about why Hannibal deserves another season is an idea – but then everyone splits their voices towards different networks and gets lost in the chatter. The Fannibals need to decide on one singular network to pitch to at a time.

Look at Shadowhunters. We know the show caught the axe at Freeform because the production company’s deal with Netflix crashed and burned, leaving the show with no funding.

Shadowfans are currently rallying to find the show a new home, working one network at a time. We recommend Fannibals start with Amazon Prime, as the show already found a home there, so Amazon may already have some form of a deal set up with one of the production companies.

Vote Hannibal in fan-oriented polls

Out of the three seasons of Hannibal, the show once received one Emmy nomination in season three, for special effects. We’ve been saying for years that the Television Academy is just full of insiders voting for themselves and their friends, and the fact that Hannibal only has one Emmy nomination proves this. These awards don’t represent how good a show is; wins in fan voted polls do.

If your fanbase is willing to spend all their time spamming the votes of an online poll for you, you know you’re doing something right for your show. Granted, Hannibal has been off the air for four years now, so the amount of fan polls they’re showing up in is limited. That would make a win for Hannibal even more impressive.

Crowdfund a Hannibal finale movie

Bryan Fuller has mentioned that, if he can’t get another season, he’d at least love to create a feature to bring the story of Hannibal to a formal close. You know who else got a movie to continue their show? Veronica Mars. But to get their movie, they had to go the crowd-funding path. Thankfully, the campaign worked, the movie was wonderful, and it even led to another season of Veronica Mars at Hulu.

Fundraising for a movie sounds like a big undertaking, but think about how many people are in the fandom. If 200,000 people donated just $5 to a campaign for the film, we’d have $1 million.

Hannibal averaged 1.34 million viewers during its final season, and we know the actual numbers are larger because it doesn’t include people who’ve discovered the show on streaming platforms in later years. We’ve recommended this plan to the Gotham fandom before, but we think the same rules apply for Hannibal.

It’s clear the cast and crew of Hannibal would be on board for another season or a movie if a plan comes to fruition. Now, it’s up to the Fannibals to bring that plan to life. We know you Hannigram shippers want more for your precious couple, and horror fans want more of Mikkelsen’s portrayal of Dr. Lecter. Fight for more of the show you love, and make your voice heard.

—

Join our group to fight to Renew Hannibal now!