Hannibal: Mads Mikkelsen keeps the hope alive for a fourth season

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The idea of a Hannibal Lector TV series once seemed laughable, but Bryan Fuller absolutely proved me wrong with three seasons of the exceptionally brilliant and utterly stylish series. Starring Hugh Dancy as Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter, the series quickly became one of my favourite shows of all-time, and although it was cancelled, fans have kept the hope alive for any possible method of revival.

The enthusiasm for a possible revival of Hannibal hasn't just been limited to the fans, as the cast and crew have frequently expressed their desire to continue the series as well. Mads Mikkelsen recently told IndieWire that he would love to return for the next stage of Hannibal's story should they get the opportunity.

I don’t think it’s a secret that if it does happen, we would love to go into ‘Silence of the Lambs.' That’s always been an issue because they didn’t have the rights for that book. But that’s obviously the most famous part and we’d love to go in there. We’d obviously switch it around a little and do all kinds of crazy stuff with it. That story is so interesting and the characters in it are as interesting. We’d switch around the genders and maybe even put two characters into one. We would love to find someone to play Buffalo Bill. That’s going to be tough. We found a Hannibal, so it’s possible.

Ted Levine played Buffalo Bill in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and if Hannibal should return to tell the story, Mads Mikkelsen already has an actor in mind for the role, but unfortunately it's someone who has already appeared in the series. "We already used Michael Pitt for Mason [Verger] and that was fantastic," Mikkelsen said. "If he wasn’t playing Mason I’d love to see him as Buffalo Bill." Pitt played Mason during the second season of the series, but was replaced by Joe Anderson for the third. I could certainly see Pitt fitting into the role well, but I'm not about to torture myself with thoughts of a fourth season that may never happen.