'Hannibal' Showrunner Talks About the Murder Too Graphic for TV
NBC's psychological thriller "Hannibal" was perhaps one of the most beautifully gruesome shows that have ever graced the small screen. Although Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal Lecter added a touch of refinement to his murders, one was particularly too graphic that it was not permitted to air.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, "Hannibal" showrunner Bryan Fuller said that one murder scene was too graphic and violent that NBC's vice president of program standards Joanna Jamerson prompted to drop it. It was supposed to air in the first season.
In the episode titled "Roti," viewers saw how FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) tracked escapee Dr. Abel Gideon (Eddie Izzard), who gave Colombian neckties to former colleagues. Not to mention, he slit their throats and pulled their tongues out from the cut. It was undoubtedly pretty brutal, but it turns out that was already the acceptable version of a more grotesque outline.
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The original plan was to have Gideon lure blogger Freddie Lounds (Lara Jean Chorostecki) into a psychiatrist's office. When she flips a light switch, it would have activated a spinning fan attached to an incision in the doctor's abdomen and would disembowel him instantaneously.
"That was the only one where NBC was like, 'I just don't know how you're going to do it,'" Fuller said.
Apart from the network, they also had another problem with the scene, particularly on getting it done. "We would have pushed back if we also hadn't been told that financially we didn't know how we could afford to produce such a gag, because you have intestines swinging around a ceiling fan," he added.
Although "Hannibal" released its final episode in 2015, the twisted scene could still make it to TV. Fuller who is currently working on "American Gods" believes so.
"Hannibal" aired for three seasons from 2013 to 2015 on NBC.
