TV’s Most Brilliant Cr-i-me Thril-ler Is Finally Returning to Streaming—The Brutal Masterpiece Fans Still Call the Greatest Drama Ever Made
The gruesome series was beloved by critics and viewers, but struggled in the ratings.
Pull out the fava beans and that nice Chianti, because Hannibal Lecter is coming back to Netflix.
In a press release sent out on June 24, the streamer confirmed that all three seasons of the NBC series Hannibal will be available to watch again on the platform starting July 27, 2026.
Currently, all episodes of the show are available to watch on Prime Video.
‘Hannibal’ Returns to Netflix
Created by Bryan Fuller and based on the characters from Thomas Harris’ books Red Dragon, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising—but not Silence of the Lambs—the horror-thriller revolved around FBI investigator Will Graham’s relationship with forensic scientist/serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
The series debuted on NBC back in April 2024 and was beloved by critics, who praised the lead performances from Mads Mikkelsen as Lecter and Hugh Dancy as Graham, respectively.
In their initial review, Variety called the show “the tastiest drama the network has introduced in awhile,” celebrating its “provocative twists” and “unsettling atmosphere.” Roger Ebert reviewer Brian Tallerico, meanwhile, said it was the “Best Drama on Television” by the time Season 3 premiered.
As the show struggled in the ratings throughout its run, NBC decided not to renew it for a fourth season. At the time, Entertainment Weekly posted a whole op-ed about why the show should be saved, as it was clearly incredibly beloved amongst those who did tune in every week.
Could ‘Hannibal’ Return for More?
The series ended with quite a shock, as (SPOILER ALERT!) Will and Hannibal were seen falling to their presumed deaths off a cliff. That being said, Fuller and the show’s stars have all been pretty vocal about wanting to return for more fun in the Hannibal universe. The series has also amassed a strong cult following since it went off the air.
The rights to the characters, however, has been in flux in recent years, especially following the death of Martha De Laurentiis in 2021.
“There is a regathering and a reordering of where those rights will land,” Fuller told Polygon earlier this year. “And it may be easier to do a Silence of the Lambs story that weaves in those characters and the story in a way that actually sets them up for a bigger story that can be organic, and might not have to navigate all of the rights.”
Fuller has previously shared he’d love to cast Zendaya as Clarice Starling, the young FBI agent made famous by Jodie Foster in the Silence of the Lambs film, should he ever get approval to adapt that book.
Speaking with The Horror Queers podcast in late 2025, Fuller said he also knows what a Season 4 would look like.
“I know exactly what season 4 of Hannibal is, and I was frustrated with Season 1. That felt a little more like traditional television to me. There was a lot more ‘murder mystery of the week’ crime procedural kind of things. I was not necessarily drawn to that as an audience member,” he said at the time.
“But I thought Season 2 was better. Season 3, I was like, ‘Okay, this is what we should be doing. This is what I want to be doing. This is the type of storytelling that I think the show can do,’” he added. “And there are a lot of people who don’t like Season 3, and I was like, ‘Well then, you really don’t want a Season 4, because that’s it.’ If you’re not down with Season 3, then you’re not going to be grooving on the plan for Season 4 because it’s following that arc.”
Fans can revisit the show’s first—and, for now, only—three seasons on Netflix starting July 24.
