The Hannibal ‘he-ate-us’ is now underway. We have successfully made it through an entire week. I am so proud of all of you.
But since it’s only been seven days I suspect that the full weight of what this hiatus means hasn’t quite sunken in for my fellow Fannibals. Considering that Hannibal premiered on April 4th, 2013 (I know this because I can see my Hannibal lanyard from WonderCon hanging off my bookshelf from my desk) that means we won’t see any new Hannibal episodes until April 2014… at the earliest. The show sort of started at a weird time – it was before spring shows had ended and before other summer shows premiered – so they could choose to air the second season a bit later. Make it a proper summer series.
Which means the ‘he-ate-us’ could be even longer.
Yeah, I know. I know. Knock on wood, right?
But no matter how long it winds up lasting, we’ve got about a year to muddle through together as best as we can. It’s going to be hard. Fannibals are tough, though. We got through the uncertainty of series renewals. We suffered along as no one helped Will Graham. We watched Hannibal feeding people, well, people episode after episode. (Seriously, though, does that frustrate anyone else? I can’t wait to see their faces when they eventually realize but still. I want to be like, “Jack, stop. Stop. Spit that out right now.”)
To help you all get through this difficult time, I’ve come up with a few things you can do to help make things just a little bit easier. This isn’t a complete list, of course, and if you have any ideas you want to add then leave them in the comments and I’ll add them in!
Join the Fannibals on Tumblr and track #hannibal.
Therese posted not too long ago about how the Hannibal Tumblr is basically the best thing ever. Which it totally is and if you’re not checking them out like every day then you are missing out. Whoever runs that thing knows how to appeal to fans and it’s great to just see the interaction between fans and an officially representative of the show. You can send them asks and they respond. They reblog fan art. It’s great. Of course they don’t reblog everything. So track the #hannibal tag – and maybe #nbc hannibal and a few others, too. You will be treated to all the stags, Hannigram, crack!vids, fan art, .gif sets, and 8track mixes you could ever want. Or that you never knew you wanted. (You should all follow randomsplashes because damn, gurl. Also: actualhannibal who reblogs the best shit ever.) The Hannibal fannibal following on Tumblr is a great fandom that doesn’t take itself very seriously at all and is more than happy to draw chibis of Hannibal and Will as murder boyfriends and then post sad, depressing pictures with blood and antlers and angst. It’s great.
Follow Bryan Fuller, David Slade, Martha De Laurentiis, and the rest of the cast and crew on Twitter for all the news about season two.
Here are a few others to follow: NBC Hannibal, Dino De Laurenttis Co., Hettienne Park (Beverly Katz), Kacey Rohl (Abigail Hobbs), Gillian Anderson (Bedelia de Maurier), Lara Jean Chorostecki (Freddie Lounds), Scott Thompson (Jimmy Price), Aaron Abrams (Brian Zettler), Raul Esperaza (Dr. Frederick Chilton), and Eddie Izzard (Dr. Abel Gideon). And keep an eye on #hannibal, #eattherude, and #emmyaldente. The unofficial twitter accounts @winston_graham and @Tattle_Crime are also very popular.
I NEED A TISSUE @winston_graham #HANNIBAL #EMMYALDENTE pic.twitter.com/s5UN9Us53N
— Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) June 21, 2013
Become a fan of Hannibal and the Dino de Laurentiis Company on Facebook.
Read through the Hannibal production blog.
Stalk all the entertainment news sites and blogs for any and all information about Season Two.
Bryan Fuller has already done some interviews that shed some light on where the show is going to go from here.
Check out the Hannibal panel at San Diego Comic Con 2013.
The Hannibal panel will be on Thursday night from 6:45 to 7:45 PM in Room 6A. I’ll be there! Come find me in line (because I’ll probably be chillin’ with my fannibals for quite a while). For those who can’t attend, keep an eye out on YouTube after the panel. People are sure to get it up online quickly.
Read the original Red Dragon by Thomas Harris that inspired the show and then give the rest of the Hannibal Lecter books a look.
In particular, fans of Hannibal are going to want to read through Red Dragon. Written in 1981, it precedes the more well known Silence of the Lambs by a good seven years. It introduced people to Hannibal Lecter for the first time and instead of Clarice Starling people got to know him through the eyes of the brilliant, troubled former FBI investigator Will Graham. This book sets the foundation of the Hannibal television series. You’ll also find a lot of scenes and dialogue that are taken from the book and transplanted into the show. Sometimes it’s different characters saying the lines but you’ll find a lot of things that are very familiar in the book while also being able to appreciate the things that have been changed. (For example, making Freddie Loundes a woman and changing Dr. Alan Bloom to Dr. Alana Bloom.) I first read Red Dragon when I was eleven so the book has a very special meaning to me which probably explains why I’m so into the Hannibal show. When you’re done with Red Dragon you can make your way through the rest of the series.
Watch Red Dragon (2002) and Manhunter (1986) – and then the rest of the Hannibal Lecter films.
While Silence of the Lambs (1991) is a great movie, the Edward Norton version of Red Dragon – released in 2002 – is my favorite. Though, it’s not the first version of the Red Dragon story to hit the silver screen. Manhunter with William Patterson as Will Graham was released back in 1986 and was the first time Hannibal Lecter (stylized as Hannibal Lecktor) was introduced to the viewing public. (And then when you’re done with all the Hannibal films, you can watch this episode of CSI featuring the original Will Graham and Francis Dolarhyde!)
Track down the ‘missing’ episode “Œuf” if you haven’t already.
Intended to air as the fourth episode, Œuf was cut for some reason. Something about the story line being too violent or something. Whatever. Honestly, it’s not any worse than any Criminal Minds plot line. It would have been fine. The choice to cut the episode so early in the season may have had an adverse effect on viewership but it did help avoid the show falling into too much of a ‘killer of the week’ sort of format. Unfortunately, it also cut out a lot of important – actually, crucial – scenes that were important in later episodes. They tried to make up for that by releasing a cut down ‘webisode’ but the whole episode is meant to be enjoyed. You can pick it up on iTunes or through Amazon.
Pre-Order Hannibal on Bluray or DVD and then marathon it when it is finally released.
The official release date is September 24th, 2013. I have no idea when that will be, by the way. No one seems to know yet. Amazon keeps sending me sad emails about how sorry they are that they cannot provide me with an estimated shipping date and how they will continue to update me every 30 days. It’s cool, Amazon. I trust you. Just don’t cancel my pre-order and we’re good, bro. While you can download all of the first season on Amazon or iTunes now if you’re just too impatient to wait, the bluray set is going to be worth having if just for the extra features. Not that we know what those are going to be yet but we have some indication. There will be at least a few deleted scenes included – Bryan Fuller has already said that on Twitter when talking about a missing scene with Will and Alana in the season finale – and there has also been mention of extended, bloodier scenes that couldn’t be shown on television. If they do include that last bit of content, it’ll probably be in the form of either deleted scenes or more likely a featurette or two on making the show. We can only hope for a blooper reel. THERE IS A CONFIRMED BLOOPER REEL. They showed footage at Comic Con. It was amazing. (UK Readers: Your release date is September 2nd, 2013. You lucky bastards.)
Host a classy Hannibal dinner party.
Maybe even turn it into one of those murder mystery sort of dinner parties.
Read Janice Poon’s food blog from the set of Hannibal for dinner party meal ideas.
Take some cooking classes.
Splurge and go out to a fancy restaurant for a classy Hannibal-esque dinner with your friends.
Learn fly fishing and make your own lures.
Preferably not out of people parts.
Check out Bryan Fuller’s earlier series Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies.
Now, this isn’t as easy as it used to be a while back. Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies are no longer on Netflix. If you are an Amazon Prime member (and student membe ps are just $40 for the year including free two-day shipping so you should be) then you can watch both Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies on their instant video service. If you haven’t seen either of these series then you’re in for something pretty freakin’ awesome. Dead Like Me follows a eighteen year old high school drop out named George (played by Ellen Muth who you’ll remember as Georgia Madchen from Hannibal) after she dies and gets resurrected as a grim reaper. Meanwhile Pushing Daisies follows Ned the Pie-Maker who has a very curious power to bring things back to life with a single touch… at the cost of something or someone else nearby dying. Wonderfalls is pretty great, too. Caroline Dhavernas (Alana Bloom, duh) plays a recent college grade working a dead end job when inanimate objects just happen to start talking to her. For a bonus cameo: almost mushroom victim Gretchen Speck-Horowitz (from the second episode of Hannibal) is a reoccurring character in Wonderfalls. Unfortunately, Wonderfalls is not available to stream anywhere but you can pick it up for just over $20 over at Amazon – or cheaper if you’re willing to buy used. Bryan Fuller also worked on Heroes for a bit which is on Netflix still.
Want to see more of Mads in action?
You may need to learn Dutch for a lot of these, actually…
Or, if you want both, then watch King Arthur (2004).
Check out Fox’s the Following, A&E’s Bates Motel, CBS’s Criminal Minds, Showtime’s Dexter, or any number of other movies and television shows featuring serial killers – list your favorites in the comments!
The Following is a good one for Hannibal fans because the relationship between Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) and Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) is largely inspired by Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter’s relationship. They met while Ryan was investigating a series of murders and then when Ryan figured out his new buddy Joe was the killer he got himself very seriously injured and nearly killed. Except the story gets a bit different once you throw the cult thing in and everything. It also has an equally frustrating but much less satisfying season finale than the Hannibal season finale. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s worth it for the creepy Poe masks and Shawn Ashmore being his adorable self as Mike Weston.
If you’re more the literary type, GoodReads has you covered. Or if you have some recommendations let us know!
Seriously, there are plenty of lists with books about serial killers. And if you don’t see something you like in the lists you can always find a book you do like and check out the books that are recommended by GoodReads. Maybe don’t use that What Should I Read Next site, though. The results are NOT helpful…
Lastly…
Adopt a dog. Or seven.
We all need our own personal Winston’s to cuddle in this time of crisis. (Okay, so, don’t adopt a dog unless you can actually take care of a dog. And if you already have one cuddle it. Cuddle it for all of us.)
So long as we stick together we can make it through, Fannibals!
Let the #HeAteUs begin!
— Hannibal (@NBCHannibal) June 21, 2013
Hannibal? We will wait for you…
English 
dolarhyde and reba, otp.
April 2013 already happened! Did you mean 2014?
Shhhhhhh.