Netflix recently announced that it will soon be the streaming home for the highly acclaimed TV horror series Hannibal, which sparked a renewed bloodlust amongst those who have been missing the series since its untimely cancellation on NBC back in 2015. Fans are all too familiar with the "Netflix bump" that helps rocket certain TV shows to the top of the pop culture zeitgeist, meaning conversations about Hannibal's potential future may soon start all over again. And star Mads Mikkelsen is already trying to make those talks happen.
Taking to social media after Netflix unveiled its programming through the month of June, Mads Mikkelsen stoked the flames of the Hannibal fandom with the perfect post.
Clearly it will take more to bring Hannibal Season 4 into reality than just support from the actor who played the titular killer, but there's absolutely no one better to lead the charge. After all, who's going to harshly deny the wants and needs of a Michelin star-worthy cannibal?
While holding one of the Hannibal masks-on-a-stick that were oft used by the emphatic Fannibals fanbase, Mads Mikkelsen is once again tapping into a river of desires that might not be able to close up again once it starts flowing in full. Hannibal fans clamored as loudly as could be for any other TV network or streaming service to step up and renew the Bryan Fuller-created series for its already planned fourth season, only to receive radio silence as a response.
Netflix was indeed one that Fuller & Co. reached out to after the cancellation (which was blamed on piracy), but the company decided to pass on the offer. That said, it's been five years, and both the streaming service and all of Hannibal's key players have changed a lot since then. Netflix now has literally hundreds more original TV projects, and it's upped its horror game over the years, so Hannibal could make for an excellent acquirement if the show gets a new influx of viewers.
While Hannibal has been available for streaming on Hulu for a while now, that service's impact on a show's popularity pales in comparison to how series fare once they hit Netflix. Shows like Friends and The Office are quite familiar with such popularity surges, and more recently, the NBC sitcom Community gained a ton of new fans from the Netflix bump. To the point where conversations are reportedly being had with Netflix about closing out Community #SixSeasonsAndAMovie promise. (Is it a good sign that all of these shows are from NBC? Also, how was this show ever considered safe enough for network TV?)
Now, Hannibal fans have been led down some hopeful avenues in the past, with rumors of a theatrical movie even coming out at one point. But Bryan Fuller and Mads Mikkelsen in particular have kept hope alive over the years, both implying they'd be down to return to the franchise if things worked out in one way or another. The existence of CBS' upcoming Silence of the Lambs offshoot Clarice certainly throws a wrench into the works of Mikkelsen's cannibal ever meeting the iconic FBI agent Clarice Starling, but there are certainly other places to take the villain's story if need be. And yes, it needs to be.
All three glorious seasons of Hannibal will be available to binge on Netflix starting on Friday, June 5, at 12:01 a.m. PT. Tell your friends, and your friends' friends, and their friends, and so on.
