#SDCC14: Hannibal Panel Talks Season 3; Season 2 Home Video Release Details

Steve Barton   |  

Jul 25, 2014

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So this was a pretty exciting, albeit spoiler-y, panel. If you’re one to worry about that, here’s your warning. Otherwise showrunner Bryan Fuller had much to tease with respect to “Hannibal” Season 3.

Thomas Harris purists such as myself were a little dismayed this past season when it looked like one of our favorite characters, Dr. Frederick Chilton (Raúl Esparza) had been prematurely snuffed out. Turns out that we needn’t have worried, since Esparaza made a surprise appearance on this year’s SDCC “Hannibal” panel to confirm his return.

“By the end of next season, I expect to have an eyepatch, a hump, and a parrot,” he said. “I can’t believe how much people fell in love with Chilton this season…I love playing the part because he’s a total douchebag.”

On the topic of other returning characters, Fuller confirmed that we’d see Eddie Izzard’s Abel Gideon once more, but only in a flashback. Makes sense, considering his ultimate fate this season.

Fuller also went on to say that season 3 will pick up one year after the bloodbath that was season 2’s finale. This will give the surviving characters a chance to return in full, while allowing Dr. Lecter and Bedelia to be settled. As for their relocation locale? Fuller confirms that season 3’s episodes will be named for Italian cuisine. None too surprising, considering this season will, in part, be based on Harris’ Hannibal novel.

Speaking of that novel, fans can expect Inspector Pazzi to show up in episode 2, while we’ll be seeing Francis Dolarhyde at some point in the season as well (to set up the fourth season, which will be an adaptation of Red Dragon).

As for the upcoming season’s structure, “We are on track with the original plan with the one exception of condensing what was to have been season 3 and season 4 all into one season now,” Fuller told Deadline. “So, the first half of the season will have its finale that reaches a climax and wraps up that story in a great way, and then we start a new story, and then that will have its own climax at the end of the season. Two separate stories that’ll have two finales and so you get two seasons for the price of one.”

“The entire first half of the season is relatively FBI-light. It’s all about the pursuit of Hannibal,” Fuller said. We’re not expected to know who survived season 2’s finale right off, and Fuller admits that the time jump allows the show to create some additional uncertainty around the fates of our beloved characters.

There has been no additional movement with respect to securing the rights to Clarice Starling (from MGM), though Fuller confirmed they are still fighting the good fight.

“Hannibal’s” season 2 home video package will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on September 16th and will include audio commentary with cast and crew on select episodes, a feature-length documentary on the making of episode 205, deleted scenes, and more.