The best looking show on television has been cancelled. Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal, a stunning, enrapturing adaptation of the Thomas Harris world is the best horror show on TV. It is the best show on NBC. It is, at this moment, dead. Long live Hannibal.
NBC has decided to cancel the series about FBI profiler Will Graham and his increasingly complicated relationship with iconic killer and cannibal, Hannibal Lecter. Hannibal has declared itself a constant spectacle, and now in its third season, has grown even more so. It’s gone off the killer-of-the-week leanings and into a Gothic, Eurohorror dreamspace; this pushing into awesome, strange territory making its cancellation all the more sad.
“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 seasons despite Cancellation Bear Chow ratings and images that would have shredded the eyeballs of lesser Standards & Practices enforcers,” creator Byran Fuller said. “[NBC president] Jen Salke and her team have been fantastic partners and creatively supportive beyond measure.”
Seemingly anticipating a campaign to save the series, Fuller says, “Hannibal is finishing his last course at NBCs table this summer, but a hungry cannibal can always dine again. And personally, I look forward to my next meal with NBC.”
Sure, here’s hoping someone can save Hannibal, a show whose ambitions and macabre events likely belonged on cable, premium networks or a streaming service. At the same time, we can accept the decision and simply appreciate the existing and remaining Hannibal episodes for what they are: a marvel.
