Hannibal Season 4 Hopes Continue As Creator Reveals What Story Would Have Been Adapted Next

Fans hoping that Hannibalwill be revived should listen to showrunner Bryan Fuller’s brand-new update, including what story from Thomas Harris’ novels he wants to adapt next. Several years after Anthony Hopkins delivered an Oscar-winning performance as Hannibal Lecter in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, Fuller developed the character for the small screen in the NBC drama Hannibal.

Over the past decade, fans have been demanding a revival of Hannibal after being canceled, which received overwhelming praise from critics and audiences alike, including a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score. Now Fuller is speaking out about whether a return to that world is possible.

While promoting his new movie, Dust Bunny, on Bloody Disgusting‘s Horror Queers podcast, the producer-writer-director admitted that the rights to the property are currently holding him back.

Fuller explained that the rights are currently being transferred to Harris, the author of the original novels, with Amazon MGM still holding on to some of the rights. As a result, it’s going to be a “little trickier” to figure out a path forward, at least for now.

Adding another complication to the situation is the fact that Martha De Laurentiis, one of the executive producers on Hannibal, died in 2021.

Fuller does reach out every so often to get updates on where things stand, especially since cast members Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy, Lawrence Fishburne, Katie Isabelle, Caroline Dhavernas, Lara Jean Chorostecki, Aarom Abrams and Scott Thompson, all want to revive their Hannibal characters.

Everybody wants to return. Hugh [Dancy] , and Mads [Mikkelsen] , definitely. But also Lawrence Fishburne, Katie Isabelle, Caroline Dhavernas, Lara Jean Chorostecki, Aaron Abrams, and Scott [Thompson] all want to come back to the story. Right now, it’s a little complicated since Martha de Laurentiis‘ passing.

The rights are in the process of reversion to Thomas Harris. MGM/Amazon has some. They’re all being navigated in a way that is going to be a little trickier to iron out now. They’re in process, and I keep on touching base and trying to encourage folks to get back together.

Even though there’s no guarantee that Hannibal season 4 will materialize, he knows exactly what storyline he wants to adapt. It’s one that fans are very familiar with: The Silence of the Lambs. According to Fuller, the rights to the iconic psychological thriller might be “free of certain obligations.”

He’s currently trying to figure out if he would be prevented from remaking The Silence of the Lambs, which would be a way to get around the current purgatory status with the rights.

I’ve talked a little bit about wanting to do a The Silence of the Lambs adaptation, which may be free of certain obligations to include Gaumont [International Television] , who is the studio on Hannibal. You can’t copyright a performance, you know? So there are things that we’re trying to figure out if we can get away with that would make it an easier path that might shake the possibilities loose of things that we might be hindered from doing at this point, given the status of the rights.

While breaking down the three seasons of Hannibal, Fuller further explained that a hypothetical fourth season would not be like season 1, which was more “murder mystery of the week.” Instead, he wants to lean into the type of storytelling that he executed with the third season.

I know exactly what season 4 of Hannibal is, and I was frustrated with season 1. That felt a little more like traditional television to me. There was a lot more ‘murder mystery of the week’ crime procedural kind of things. I was not necessarily drawn to that as an audience member, but I thought season 2 was better. Season 3, I was like, ‘Okay, this is what we should be doing. This is what I want to be doing. This is the type of storytelling that I think the show can do. And there are a lot of people who don’t like season 3, and I was like, ‘Well then, you really don’t want a season 4, because that’s it.’ If you’re not down with Season 3, then you’re not going to be grooving on the plan for Season 4 because it’s following that arc.

Coincidentally (or maybe not), Fuller recently talked about his hope of adapting The Silence of the Lambs.

While speaking with Screen Rant, he revealed that his dream is to create a limited series of The Silence of the Lambs, with Mikkelsen reprising Hannibal Lecter and Zendaya joining the cast as Clarice Starling, the role originally played by Jodie Foster in the movie.

CBS attempts to create a sequel series called Clarice, but only 13 episodes aired.

Ever since Hannibal‘s cancellation in 2015, fans have been very vocal on social media, saying that the series was axed way too soon. Fuller’s desire to adapt The Silence of the Lambs would be a huge undertaking, since the 1991 adaptation is considered one of the best films ever.

Aside from Hopkins, the movie won several other Oscars that year, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Foster) and Best Adapted Screenplay.

As a result, expectations for a new iteration of The Silence of the Lambs would be sky-high, even with names like Fuller and Zendaya attached to the project. Time will tell if Fuller’s dream will be realized or if the issues with the rights will continue to plague his attempt at reviving Hannibal.