Mads Mikkelsen reveals what he wants Hannibal season 4 to explore

Hannibal star Mads Mikkelsen has shared his wishes for a potential Hannibal season 4. The series ran for 3 seasons on NBC, and now has a new home on Netflix – though no further episodes have been confirmed, Mikkelsen and series creator Bryan Fuller haven’t ruled anything out.

Speaking to IndieWire, Mikkelsen revealed that he’d love season 4 to dive into Hannibal Lecter’s most iconic story: Silence of the Lambs. “I don’t think it’s a secret that if it does happen, we would love to go into Silence of the Lambs,” Mikkelsen commented. “That’s always been an issue because they didn’t have the rights for that book. But that’s obviously the most famous part and we’d love to go in there.”

He added: “We’d obviously switch it around a little and do all kinds of crazy stuff with it. That story is so interesting and the characters in it are as interesting. We’d switch around the genders and maybe even put two characters into one. We would love to find someone to play Buffalo Bill. That’s going to be tough. We found a Hannibal, so it’s possible.”

As for who he’d pick to play the infamous killer, Mikkelsen said: “We already used Michael Pitt for Mason and that was fantastic. If he wasn’t playing Mason I’d love to see him as Buffalo Bill.”

The Boardwalk Empire actor played Verger in Hannibal season 2, but Joe Anderson replaced him for the third instalment – considering the recast, it wouldn’t be too strange to see Pitt again in another role.

Unfortunately, we’re unlikely to see Hannibal tackle this particular storyline – MGM, who own Silence of the Lambs, are instead working with CBS on a Clarice-centric prequel series, aptly titled Clarice. On Twitter, Fuller said: “Martha [De Laurentiis, producer] & I tried many times to work with MGM to include Clarice into our Hannibal story. They ultimately told us they had their own plans for Clarice and they didn't need Hannibal to tell her story. Don’t think this impacts a potential #HANNIBAL S4 as we never had Clarice rights.”

Martha & I tried many times to work with MGM to include Clarice into our Hannibal story. They ultimately told us they had their own plans for Clarice and they didn't need Hannibal to tell her story. Don’t think this impacts a potential #HANNIBAL S4 as we never had Clarice rights.January 12, 2020

There’s no news yet if we’ll ever see a season 4 of Hannibal, but with such a dedicated fanbase, it’s definitely hard to rule it out completely. For now, check out our list of the best Netflix shows available.

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.