So first things first, Hannibal doesn’t have a Season 4 lined up, but Bryan Fuller is exploring the possibility of a movie! So that’s good news. Click below for highlights from the panel, that includes some fun news about Richard Armitage’s turn as The Red Dragon.
Bryan Fuller wore a Star Wars-patterned smoking jacket to the panel. Not to be outdone, Richard Armitage brought a plush red dragon to sit on the table in front of him. Clearly, he understands the fandom he is about to enter. Hugh Dancy, looking out at the crowd, said, “There must be no more flower crowns in the world…” Fuller then distributed the crowns, which led to some questions:
Armitage: why are we wearing flowers on or heads?
Dancy: I don’t actually know.
Bryan Fuller: it’s a manifestation of the floral beauty of the fandom
But Armitage quickly got into the spirit. The panel got into the, um, meat of Season 3 by talking about the Red Dragon arc. Apparently, Will sees Francis as a version of Hannibal he can save, whereas Hannibal sees him as a version of Will he can corrupt.
And speaking of this infamous arc, when it was suggested that there are sexual elements of Dolarhyde’s crimes that you can’t show on NBC, Fuller was quick to respond: “Oh that’s what you think.”
Armitage: I spent half of this series naked.
Fuller: You’re welcome. There are shorts in the Red Dragon story…”
Armitage: “They’re a little too short.”
But all kidding aside, Fuller knew that introducing the Red Dragon crimes could shift the show’s tone. “I wanted to keep the promise that we were not going to be telling rape stories.” So the focus will be on Dolarhyde’s attack on the family unit itself, rather than the sexual aspect that other adaptations have.
On Recipe for a Perfect Hannibal Episode:
“Each scene should be 1/3 Thomas Harris; 1/3 real psychology; and 1/3 our special sauce.”
On NBC’s Flexible Vocabulary:
“I googled lesbian sex euphemisms and that came up,” Fuller on how he got “button stitching” past NBC Standards & Practices.
On Soundtracks:
Siouxsie and the Banshees also composed a song for the Season 3 finale.
On Preferred Murder Tableaux:
Fuller: Cello.
Dancy: Tree Man.
Armitage: Sliced into glass sections.
On Writing for Television:
Fuller: “Sometimes we rewatch a scene and say, ‘Wow, that’s pretentious.'”
On Influences:
Fuller: Davids Cronenberg and Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, and Tony Scott
On Fannibals:
Fuller: “The best hug you can imagine.”
Fuller said the thing he’d miss if Hannibal ended would be the Fannibals. “And I think we’re all going to take Fannibals with us wherever we go–”
Hugh: “Literally.” Then Dancy continued, more seriously, “To be part of something that feels like it was so embraced and engaged with has been an amazing experience.”
Fuller: “We’d like to continue w the show so the way this season ends…hopefully we’ll find a way to bring Hugh and Mads back to you.”
Dancy: “It’s an emotional thing for all of us. It’s not over in the sense that we were fully committed and were living this thing for several years and that’s still true in this moment.”
Armitage: “I feel like I was brought into a family–”
Hugh: “Which you then killed…”
And one particular Bedelia cosplayer brought Fuller a scarf designed to match his favorite suit! So naturally Fuller jumped off stage into the crowd to hug her.
Finally, here is a gorgeous and atmospheric and of course spoilery preview of the Red Dragon!
