Hannibal lives, right?

Fan theories: an age-old ritual that anyone who has watched or consumed any kind of media, from game to film to book, has taken part of. It keeps the excitement running, even after the end – or at least, the end as far as the creators are concerned.

So, what happens when fans take on their own views, shifting focus and uncovering new and secret meanings? Fan theories are born, becoming so ingrained that for some it replaces the actual events of the show, and while many fan theories have no concrete reasoning, it has never stopped people from truly unleashing their imaginations.

While there are many theories that have taken hold of certain communities, I dedicate this article to the fan theories that revolve around one of the most patient, hopeful group of fans to exist. That’s right, NBC Hannibal fans this one is for you.

With the release of the first season on 4 April, 2013, the hit-thriller inspired by Thomas Harris’ well-beloved franchise of The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Red Dragon was an immediate success. The show, directed and created by Bryan Fuller, consisted of three seasons, following Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) during his days as a therapist, before he is caught as a murderous cannibal, and his relationship with FBI Agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), whose ability to harness empathy allows him to place himself in the shoes of the latest killer.

It is an elusive ending and a conclusion that many were not thrilled with

The show loosely toys with the canonised storyline of the original books, with characters like Jack Crawford, Frederick Chilton, and Freddie Lounds, as well as integrating the plot of Red Dragon and the Tooth Fairy killer. Hannibal’s popularity is largely in part to the beautiful cinematography and philosophical dialogue, but above all, fans truly adore the show for its intricate, yet deadly, weaving of Will and Hannibal’s flourishing relationship. In spite of their initial surface-level differences, unnerving similarities are revealed that make them a match made in heaven.

Unfortunately, Hannibal was cancelled due to a low viewership after its third season, ending in 2015. The abrupt ending proved disheartening to fans who wished to see how the lives of a cannibal and ex-FBI agent would unfurl.

The end truly left us all on a cliffhanger; we saw the final destruction of the Tooth Fairy, Will and Hannibal embracing, bloody and victorious, before plummeting off a cliff into what we can only assume is the water below. The credits roll, and it is the short post-credit scene which implies the potentiality of survival that catalysed the theories.

We watch Bedelia, Hannibal’s therapist who he had kidnapped, sitting at a dining table, a piece of divinely cooked meat displayed on the table, and we realise she is being fed her own leg. It was a clear reference to Hannibal’s early threat of eating her coming into fruition. But because fans were never gifted another season, it is an elusive ending and a conclusion that many were not thrilled with.

Maybe this year will be the year that finally set our theories into concrete conclusions

Every year, there is always talks of a revival, of another network adopting and restoring the franchise, and every year the fans get their hopes up just for the same old disappointment. Nonethless, it is something that is fallen for every time, and because of this, fans have resorted to decoding the end and coming up with different, more satisfying endings. Of course, surviving the drop off a massive cliff into deep and treacherous water is not an easy feat. Yet both Hannibal and Will have endured a lot worse: from stabbings, fights, getting shot, and revenge plans almost gone right. So what’s a little cliff jumping?

Bedelia, a well-known psychiatrist, would not in her right mind mutilate herself, her main focus while kidnapped being self-preservation. No other character is as afraid of Hannibal than she is, and no one has the capabilities and, albeit unpleasant, skills to take appendages off and cook to perfection quite like our protagonist.

All of these pieces of the puzzle, with the promise Hannibal made to Bedelia, can only lead to fans assuming that they did in fact survive the fall. With Will embracing the more malevolent side of his personality, learning to see Hannibal for what he really is, it would seem like the perfect activity to initiate together, symbolic of their new identities away from the normalcy of life that they had previously been living.

Interviews from Dancy and Mikkelson gives fans a shred of hope, as they express their longing to play their infamous roles again. Fans eagerly await any new information, asking the same question at every Comic Con and Q and A: ‘Are Hannibal and Will alive?’. And who knows, maybe this year will be the year that finally sets our theories into concrete conclusions.