Before we get into what Hannibal showrunner Bryan Fuller said about the show’s upcoming third season at Comic-Con, we should explicitly point out that he reveals some SPOILERS about it. We won’t make a vague reference to what he spoils, because that itself would be a spoiler, but if you absolutely don’t want to know anything about what’s going to happen on Hannibal, stop reading now. Also, why did you click on this article, given its headline?
Now that the people who don’t realize Hannibal is a prequel have left—seriously, we already know almost everything that’s going to happen anyway—we can get down to it. For starters, season three will pick up a year after the bloodbath that ended season two, in which nearly every main character was either left dying on the floor or happily escaping the country with Gillian Anderson. This comes via Vox’s liveblog of the panel, which explains that the jump in time is being used to make it a littler harder to figure out who survived. Also, the FBI apparently will only play into one episode out of the first seven, with Fuller choosing to step away from the show’s “creative murderer of the week” structure for stories about Hannibal’s escape and the people who are trying to catch him.
Vox reports that a number of characters from the books will pop up, including Lady Murasaki and Commander Pazzi. Francis Dolarhyde will be the season’s “big bad,” indicating that—at the very least—some chunks of season three are going to start adapting events that happen in the Red Dragon novel. And speaking of characters popping up, Fuller confirmed that Raul Esparza’s Dr. Chilton did survive being shot in the face during season two, and that he would continue to play a part in the show for its next two seasons.
Fuller says Kacey Rohl’s Abigail Hobbes will make another appearance, but he didn’t explain whether that meant she was still alive or if she’ll be in a flashback/dream sequence. He also says he’s working on a behind-the-scenes book about the art of Hannibal, which will be a nice thing to leave on your coffee table if you ever have guests who love looking at grisly murders.