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Hannibal is the smartest and most creative show on TV right now. It’s strong visually, as well as intellectually and emotionally, critically acclaimed for everything it does and benefits from a passionate cult following that would go to the end of the Earth for the show.
But despite all of this, NBC has done the unthinkable and cancelled Bryan Fuller’s masterpiece after just three (3) seasons.
The announced was made about half a day ago and ever since then Fannibals (the name the Hannibal fan base goes by) from across the planet have been rallying online, sending messages to Fuller, producer Martha De Laurentiis and other creative staff and signing petitions.
Fans and critics alike are blaming NBC for their decision and trying unsuccessfully to understand how they could even consider it, let alone go through with it.
Showrunner Bryan Fuller was gracious as ever, giving a statement saying that “NBC has allowed us to craft a television series that no other broadcast network would have dared, and kept us on the air for three (3) seasons despite Cancellation Bear Chow ratings and images that would have shredded the eyeballs of lesser Standards & Practices enforcers”.
He went on to give a special thanks to Jen Salke and the rest of her team for the creative support that they’ve shown him and his colleagues.
He stresses that while Hannibal is eating his last course over at NBC, “a hungry cannibal can always dine again”, which seems to hint that Fuller, De Laurentiis and Gaumont, the French studio that finances the show for the most part, are looking for a new home for the show.
De Laurentiis went a step even further, taking to Twitter to confirm that the cancellation is true, but also to inform fannibals that yes, the team is in fact actively looking for other networks or online platforms that would like to host the show for its remaining seasons. Bryan previously said that he has a six (6) – seven (7) year plan.
Both Fuller and De Laurentiis have asked fans to keep watching the show and try to enjoy the remaining ten (10) episodes that are going to air on NBC on Thursday nights, at 10 p.m.
Ironically, Hannibal’s cancellation could prove to be the best thing that could’ve happened to the show.
Hannibal has always been much better suited for a cable network due to its artistry, story telling ambition, bold visuals and complex characters who want you to listen to them and give them your full attention when watching the show. In Europe and Asia the show already airs on a cable network – AXN.
Moving to a cable network in the US would give Bryan and his writers much more freedom with language and images. There have already been a few instances in seasons one (1) and two (2) when the creative vision had to be somewhat compromised due to the Standards & Practices that apply to broadcast networks.
Cancellation is not a new threat to the show as season one (1) ended with everyone wondering whether or not NBC would renew the critically acclaimed show. Back then, Amazon and A&E both expressed interest in hosting the show in the event that NBC went through with the cancellation.
As mentioned above, it’s possible, and even likely that such parties will be interested in hosting the show now.
A petition addressing both NBC and Netflix has been started by London resident Carlos Mazal and it only serves to prove the love and commitment that fannibals from all over the world have for the show. In just 2 hours after being posted it had collected 4.000 signatures. In roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes it had collected 6.000 signatures.
It reached more than 8.200 signatures when it hit its 4th hour and in less than 8 hours it had passed 12.200 signatures.
It currently has almost 22.600 signatures and it’s been online for less than 15 hours.
NBC has become a bit of a mother of cancellation recently, axing Constantine, Aquarius and Hannibal, all within a few weeks. It’s a dangerous practice that tells people they shouldn’t get attached to, or even give a chance to anything the network makes.
Image Source: sptdigital.com
