NBC Cancels 'Hannibal,' Fandom Erupts

NBC is eating its contract with "Hannibal" with fava beans and a nice chianti.

The network has officially canceled the show after three seasons, which means the show will end its run after the currently scheduled slate of episodes. The run is set to end on September 3.

Bryan Fuller, who created the prequel series focusing on Hannibal Lecter, released a surprisingly humorous statement on the cancellation. "NBC has allowed us to craft a television series that no other broadcast network would have dared, and kept us on the air for three seasons despite Cancellation Bear Chow ratings and images that would have shredded the eyeballs of lesser Standards & Practices enforcers," he said. "[NBC Entertainment exec] Jen Salke and her team have been fantastic partners and creatively supportive beyond measure. Hannibal is finishing his last course at NBC’s table this summer, but a hungry cannibal can always dine again. And personally, I look forward to my next meal with NBC."

While Hannibal consistently languished in ratings, it nonetheless maintained a dedicated fan base as proven by the large fandom on Tumblr. Many of those fans have started voicing their disappointment on Twitter, blasting NBC for the cancellation and calling for a pickup by Hulu or another streamer. Even with that passionate fan base, though, the show dropped to just 1.66 million viewers in the second episode of the current third season, a series low, despite a premiere viewership of 2.57 million the week before.

The only silver lining here for fans of Bryan Fuller's work is that he will now continue on to work on "American Gods," the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel currently in development for Starz.