Bryan Fuller is open to exploring different mediums for Hannibal season 4

Hannibal, the grimdark psychological horror from Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me creator Bryan Fuller, enraptured fans from the moment it debuted on NBC in 2013. The series follows the empathetic but troubled FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and the cunning forensic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), who is also a cannibalistic serial killer. The unlikely bond between the two men kickstarts a journey of murder and love, which was cut short when the series was canceled after season 3 due to low viewership. But like an all-you-can-eat buffet, Hannibal’s fandom is still hungry for more story, and Fuller, who has never given up trying to get a season 4 off the ground, is eager to provide.

In his latest interview with Polygon, he made it clear he was considering other media beyond TV to explore Hannibal season 4.

It’s been 11 years since the shocking finale, which featured Will embracing Hannibal to pull him off a cliff to their presumed deaths after the pair finished murdering brutal family-killer Francis Dolarhyde (Richard Armitage). That should have been it for Will and Hannibal, but fans haven’t given up on a potential Hannibal season 4. And they aren’t the only ones: The cast of Hannibal is raring to go, too, though Dancy has expressed concern about the cast’s aging and the time limits on when the revival could happen.

Hannibal’s murky rights issues have been the major barrier to Hannibal season 4, but Fuller has never been shy about wanting to find a way to continue Hannibal and Will’s story, even as he works on other projects, like his feature-film directorial debut, Dust Bunny. Speaking to Polygon via Zoom, he considered alternative ways to get Hannibal season 4 out there.

One alternative: an audio drama. “There’s something appealing about an audio story, because we could bring the actors back, and even if they were sitting in a recording studio with headphones, it would still be those actors,” Fuller says. “It would still be Lawrence Fishburne. It would still be Gillian Anderson, Hugh, and Mads.”

That might not be the way some Hannibal fans would like to envision the continuation of a TV series where the blood-soaked visuals are so key to its identity. But the audio route would directly address Dancy’s concerns that he and Mikkelsen might age out of the roles.

Fuller acknowledges that the rights to some Hannibal characters, in particular, are still in flux following the death of Martha De Laurentiis in 2021. But if Hannibal continues, he’s adamant that his vision includes the full cast returning, including ragebait journalist Freddy Lounds (Lara Jean Chorostecki), burnt-to-a-crisp Dr. Frederick Chilton (Raúl Esparza), and the infamous “Murder Wives,” Margot Verger (Katherine Isabelle) and Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas).

Image: NBC

“There is a regathering and a reordering of where those rights will land,” Fuller says. “And it may be easier to do a Silence of the Lambs story that weaves in those characters and the story in a way that actually sets them up for a bigger story that can be organic, and might not have to navigate all of the rights.” Fuller didn’t clarify how that would be possible, but it isn’t the first time he has mentioned adapting material related to Thomas Harris’ novel The Silence of the Lambs. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he previously said he wanted to cast Zendaya as Clarice Starling, the no-nonsense FBI trainee who gets entangled in Hannibal’s web.

Fuller acknowledges that his Hannibal actors are aging, but he doesn’t see that as a barrier to his plans yet. “There’s something about the nature of the next step of Will and Hannibal’s relationship that could happen now, that could happen five years from now, and we would still be able to tell the same story, because of the nature of what the season 4 story is in my mind,” he says. “So yes, a time limit, but it’s not any time soon. I’m not giving up.”

Hannibal seasons 1–3 are available to stream on Prime Video.