Can NBC’s Hannibal top its superlative second season?
With what season 3 has in store, Gabriel believes so…
Warning: contains spoilers forHannibalseason 1 and 2 and the Thomas Harris novelRed Dragon.
When the credits rolled onHannibals second season finale, my heart did not slow down for twenty minutes.
Betrayal, forgiveness, revenge; it all came together in those final minutes.
Quite simply, I have never seen anything like it on television before.
So how the hell do you followthat?
Like so much ofHannibal, what made that finale work was a combination of different and equally effective elements.
Respect for the source material.
Genuine investment in all the characters involved.
Truly gut wrenching horror.
From its debut episodeHannibalhas effortlessly balanced all of these things to create a magnificent operatic cocktail.
So just what might we expect when Dr Lecter reappears on our screens next year?
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In season two we began to get glimpses of Hannibals background.
Rather, it will predominantly hinge on the confirmed introduction of one major new character.
Years away from their bitter parting, what exactly will Hannibal and Murasaki have to say to each other?
Will they reconnect or will she become a threat?
Whatever ends up happening, it is bound to be riveting television.
Bryan Fuller has been very open about his willingness to play around with the chronology of the novels.
The novel follows Hannibal seven years after his escape from the Baltimore Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
Cue disembowelling and a narrow escape from Vergers pigs, thanks to the last minute intervention of Clarice Starling.
In the novels, Mason Verger is nothing short of an abomination.
In the hands of Fuller and Michael Pitt, however, Verger became something strangely likeable.
Either prospect is an enticing one.
It is undoubtedly the novel that set the template for the television series.
His presence is felt all the way through, but he is scarcely seen.
Thankfully, Fuller has expressed in interviews just how excited he is to bring Dolarhyde to life.
So, as usual with this particular adaptation, the character is almost certainly in safe hands.
Does this mean we will now see a Will Graham operating unencumbered by the interference of a suspicious FBI?
Will has always been a reluctant agent, but expect his resistance to be stronger than ever.
He has, after all, not only been incarcerated by Hannibal, but gravely wounded as well.
Another character who will enjoy a degree of vindication next year is the long suffering Doctor Chilton.
[End of season three spoiler.]
It is likely that we will see Hannibal in prison next year.
It is equally likely Mason Verger will be dead by the time we get to the coverage ofRed Dragon.
Adapting a book series means that certain things are, if not inevitable, somewhat expected and signposted.
What makes this particular series so exciting is seeing justhowthe creative team choose to adapt these classic novels.
Hannibalis one of the best shows on television right now.
You cant ask for much more than that.
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