Hannibal: 10 Things That Would've Happened Next
1. Where There's A Will, There's A Way
Could a complete turn of events have had Will Graham killed off after his cliff fall? No matter what happened, there would need to be a time when Hugh Dancy stepped aside so Clarice (or someone similar) could be in the limelight. It is hard to imagine having two such large characters in the Hannibal literature sharing the same space, but it is also hard to imagine the show without Will.
There could have been a season that was relatively light on Will, allowing the Silence of the Lambs storyline play out, returning for a team of FBI characters to team up against Hannibal once more. The only other option is that Will gives in to the bond that he and Lecter share, and the pair become more than just patient/doctor - a'la Clarice and Hannibal in the books or Hannibal and Bedelia in the show.
Dancy told collider that Fuller's idea for Season 4 was:
"Really fantastic. … It took us back to the first season in a very unexpected way, and made total sense of that cliffhanger ending; it seemed justified. It was born out of a part of one of the books so it was still coming out of that universe, but it wasn't the Clarice/Silence Of The Lambs storyline."
We can only guess what Fuller had in mind, but presumably something to do with Lecter's old patient and a reimagining of the Silence of the Lambs material.