With the recent release of Hannibal Season 2 to Blu-ray and DVD, I had the opportunity to catch up with Bryan Fuller to get his thoughts on an excellent second season and find out what he's planning for Season 3:
Looking back at Hannibal's second season, are you happy with how it turned out?
Bryan Fuller: With Season 2, I was really happy with how it grew organically. When you're in the middle of it, you're not sure if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. It's great because that terror bubble keeps you on your toes, but I feel really good about Season 2.
Season 2 saw a push away from the weekly killer format of the first season. Was that intentional or something that also grew organically?
Bryan Fuller: It was a wiggling out of the crime procedural restrictions. I wanted to tell multiple episode arcs and make it more about Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter. That's going to continue into Season 3, because we're outside of the parameters of the FBI. It's on the road, we're with Bedelia and Hannibal, and they're doing something different than they were in the first two seasons, as is Will and Jack Crawford.
All of those people who survived the bloody night at Hannibal's have had their lives completely changed, if not destroyed. They're in the process of putting their world back together and their lives back together, sometimes quite literally.
I enjoyed how you are adapting elements from the books, while still changing enough to keep fans guessing. What book or books will the third season be based off of?
Bryan Fuller: It's going to borrow heavily from Hannibal and Hannibal Rising, but it will subvert expectations from those books. There's elements that you'll recognize on the surface, but what we do with the characters is much more organically tied to our universe. It will be repurposed in hopefully a way that the audience will dig.
What has your experience been like working with NBC? I'm surprised every week with what Hannibal is able to show on network TV.
Bryan Fuller: I was expecting to be told to shave frames or lose scenes and I was very surprised with what they allowed us to do. It's a really great partnership. NBC promised to allow us to do the show that we set out to do and it's such a rarity. People in this industry often make promises and then they go away, but NBC has allowed us to do some boundary-pushing television on their mainstream network. Any other network would have never let us gone this far and let us be renewed twice with these ratings, so hats off to NBC.
One of my favorite parts of Hannibal Season 2 was watching Michael Pitt as Mason Verger. Can you talk about casting him in this role? Will he be a major part of Season 3?
Bryan Fuller: I love that guy! He did such a great job. When we first started talking about casting, Michael's name came up and I said, "That's the guy!" I know he's played psychopaths in the past, but I wanted to see what he'd do that we weren't expecting. He brought such an unexpected glee to the role and was as game as any of us with where we were taking Verger. We're absolutely not done with the Mason Verger storyline and are hoping to get Michael Pitt back for Season 3.
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"SANTA MONICA, CA– Hannibal: Season Two, the next chapter of the smash hit series will keep viewers on the edge of their seats when it arrives on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD), DVD (plus Digital) and Digital HD September 16th from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. From Bryan Fuller, the executive producer of TV’s “Heroes” and “Pushing Daisies,” comes the complete second season of the deliciously dark and twisted show.
Premiering to over 4.8 million viewers, Hannibal continues its second season with Will Graham (Dancy) locked in a mental asylum, accused of Hannibal Lecter’s (Mikkelsen) crimes. Jack Crawford (Fishburne) is dealing with his own feelings about Will, and whether his protégé is in fact a cold-blooded killer. With Will locked up, Hannibal becomes Jack’s new consultant on cases. The deadly dance between these characters continues to turn in startling and unexpected ways, in a season that will show nothing can ever be the same again.
Before Hannibal Season 3 airs on NBC catch up with Hannibal: Season Two, which contains all 13 episodes on three-discs loaded with special features that include select episode audio commentaries with the cast and crew, a feature-length documentary on the making of episode 205, featurettes on the style of Hannibal Lector and the prosthetics and effects in the show, cast and crew reflections on Season 2, webisodes, deleted scenes and a gag reel. The Hannibal: Season Two Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.97 and $39.98, respectively."
BLU-RAY/DVD SPECIAL FEATURES*
• Audio Commentaries on Select Episodes with Cast and Crew
• This Is My Design Documentary
• “The Style of a Killer” featurette
• “Bodies of Lies” featurette
• Hannibal Season 2: Killer Intentions
• Post Mortem with Scott Thompson (Webisodes)
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
*Subject to change
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