Hannibal: 10 Things We Won't Get To See
1. A Definitive And Original Ending
Finally, one of many things that Fuller mentioned was planned in his proposed overarching narrative for the Hannibal television series was an ending. No, not the ending to The Silence Of The Lambs where an escaped Lecter begins to stalk Frederick Chilton, telling Clarice that he’s about to have an old friend for dinner. No, not the ending to Hannibal the book, that saw Clarice and Hannibal Lecter eloping to Buenos Aires together, or the ending to Hannibal the film, that saw Lecter escape once again, minus a hand this time.
No, Fuller more than hinted that his preferred way of rounding out the story of Hannibal Lecter was to complete his interpretation of the Harris-sourced material… and then deliver one final season of wholly original material, concluding the epic in his own style, finally constrained by nothing except his own understanding of the character and of the idiosyncratic storytelling that had taken him to that point.
There’s no indication anywhere of what that ending might have looked like: the fates of any of the major characters, or even a simple binary, ‘does he live or die at the end’ answer. Nonetheless, fans of the series that prize Fuller’s interpretation over and above the inconsistent, iffy versions available in print and on DVD to date may well consider that his take had the potential to be the definitive version of the story, even above the one presented in the novels.
High praise, indeed… but we’ll probably never know how that hypothetical final season would have played out, and who would have remained alive to tell the tale.
What’s the biggest missed opportunity you can think of in Hannibal being butchered in its prime like this? Tell us all about it in the comments…