Dr. Hannibal is on a roll. The serial killer is frolicking in Italy with a pretend wife dodging and toying with a band of his vendetta-driven victims in a massive manhunt. That is why loyal "Hannibal" fanatics were stunned when news broke out that NBC cancelled the cult-favorite series.
Ever since this shocking deathblow, fans have been adamant in keeping the cannibalistic doctor alive, taking to social media to #saveHannibal. But no one is as unyielding as showrunner Bryan Fuller, who is working on finding a new home for the series. However, there's some bad news, and Fuller is a bit out of luck.
In response to a Twitter user asking about the show's renewal, Fuller revealed that Lecter is not welcome in Amazon and Netflix. The streaming giants are the first ones that came to mind when the series was axed. Unfortunately, they were also the first ones to decline.
As per Slashfilm, it wasn't a shock that Netflix passed on giving "Hannibal" season 4 a shelter. Unlike the streaming site, Amazon already has the rights for streaming the first three seasons of the series, which is why the show wasn't very appealing to the company.
Meanwhile, on the side of Amazon, which was a more likely home for "Hannibal" because of the said rights package, Fuller explained to Variety that "without an NBC component, it's a little complicated."
"Even some of our international partners, because there's no NBC component, will pass on a fourth season." This, added Variety, is the very reason why it is very hard for the executive producer and his team to get a company pick up the series.
Fuller, however, assured that he is not done yet. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the showrunner said that he has cooked up a "radical" plan for season 4 should it push through. Amazon and Netflix may have already been marked off the list, but he believes that there are still other possibilities.
However, there's another bottleneck in "Hannibal" to take care of before the doctor can dine in another network's table.
According to AV Club, the contracts of leads Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy have just expired. This means that should another network or streaming site picks up the show, it will have to conduct an entire renegotiation process, get into a new discussion on the actors' salaries and the production rules.
Slashfilm adds that Fuller's commitment to the television retelling of Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel, "American Gods," will pose a challenge too. So at the moment, "Hannibal" season 3, which is now on its sixth episode, will have to be considered the show's last.