[21] Franklin Froideveaux and Tobias Budge were created because Fuller could not secure the rights to The Silence of the Lambs characters Benjamin Raspail and Jame Gumb.

[46] Cynthia Nixon joined the recurring cast as Kade Prurnell, an employee of the Office of the Inspector General, who is investigating Jack Crawford's role in the events of the first season.

[52] Fuller stated in June 2014 after winning the Saturn Award for Best Network Television Series that they were told by Bowie's management to ask again for his availability for the third season.

[57] In January 2015, several recurring roles were cast, including Richard Armitage as Francis Dolarhyde; Nina Arianda as Molly Graham, Will's wife; Rutina Wesley as Reba McClane; and Glenn Fleshler as Dr. Cordell Doemling.

[63] Fuller stated that should the series continue, whether for a fourth season or feature film, and should they obtain rights to adapt The Silence of the Lambs, Elliot Page would be his ideal casting for Clarice Starling.

[70] In July 2015, the cast were released after their contracts expired, but Mikkelsen and Dancy have expressed interest in reprising their respective roles if the series is acquired by a streaming service.

[71] On July 6, 2015, it was revealed that discussions with Amazon came to an end as a result of deadlines set by the service as a part of the deal, which Fuller felt would not allow for enough time to conceptualize and produce a new season.

[73] Fuller stated after the finale aired that financing for a film is being looked into, as well as divulging his planned Silence of the Lambs storyline and that Starz could serve as a potential renewal due to their relationship on American Gods.

[83] In January 2019, Mikkelsen exclusively revealed to Bloody Disgusting that he suspected Fuller to be securing rights to The Silence of the Lambs, saying in full, "Yeah, I think there's always new hope.

"[84] The series' fourth episode, "Oeuf", which revolves around kidnapped children who have been brainwashed into murdering their own former families, was pulled from the United States broadcast schedule at the request of creator Bryan Fuller.

The decision (which was among several controversial preemptions made by the station—whose owner, Bonneville International, is a for-profit arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—over the years, predating its 1995 affiliation switch from CBS to NBC) was criticized by Fuller, who compared it to how Russian newspaper Pravda structured its news coverage to fit the narrative of the Soviet Communist Party.

[93] When Hannibal was moved to Saturdays on NBC in the middle of the third season, City continued to air the series in its regular Thursday time slot in Canada.

[94] In Europe, one year before originally airing, on April 10, 2012, the ProSiebenSat.1 Media Group acquired the rights to broadcast the series in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark beginning in 2013.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Hannibal caters to an intellectual audience that prefers plenty of gore in its psychological thrillers, with a polished presentation of madness.

[112] Joanne Ostrow of The Denver Post praised the series as "a well constructed, masterfully written piece," but stated that "[the] level of violent imagery is not my cup of tea".

"[113] Paul Doro of Shock Till You Drop gave Hannibal an 8/10 and said of the series, "The stab at classy horror mostly succeeds due to excellent performances from the leads, genuine suspense and surprises, well-constructed short and long-term mysteries, and an appropriately disconcerting mood that permeates the action right from the start", and praised Hugh Dancy in particular, saying he "does an outstanding job of subtlety conveying how painful human interaction is for him, and despite being abrasive and unpleasant, you are always in his corner and really feel for the guy.

"[115] Brian Lowry of Variety said Hannibal is "the tastiest drama the network has introduced in awhile", and had particular praise for the central trio of Dancy, Mikkelsen and Fishburne.

"[116] Linda Stasi of The New York Post gave the series two and a half stars out of four, praising the performances and called it "the most beautifully shot and produced show on network TV, with many scenes simply and literally breathtaking".

[118] The Chicago Sun Times' TV critic Lori Rackl said, "Hannibal is a haunting, riveting...drama that has the look and feel of a show audiences have become more accustomed to seeing on cable than broadcast," and concluded that "It's also extremely well executed...bound to leave viewers hungry for more.

Club's Emily VanDerWerff wrote that the series acts as a corrective to the "empty" violence on much of television and "restores the seriousness of purpose to a genre long in need of it...Hannibal is interested in death and murder as a means to glance sidelong at some of life's largest questions.

Glenn Garvin from The Miami Herald called it "a fast-food hash of poor planning and worse execution", referring to the writing as "a mess of unmemorable dialogue and unworkable characterizations.

"[122] Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe was similarly critical, calling the series "rank and depressing," and concluded that it is "shocking, gruesome, and, ultimately, hollow.

[126] Mark Peters of Slate called Hannibal "an engrossing, psychologically dense show that is also visually stunning... the kind of gem seldom found on network TV."

Gathering a perfect rating of 10 out of 10 on IGN, reviewer Eric Goldman stated, "Hannibal ended its fantastic second season with a thrilling, exciting and audacious series of events" and praised the directing by David Slade.

"[132] Den of Geek reviewer Laura Akers labelled the episode "simply divine" and stated that she has "rarely found [herself] looking forward to a show's return more".

[133] Emma Dibdin of Digital Spy also heavily praised the episode, specifically Mikkelsen's performance, stating that he is "so convincingly predatory...and so simultaneously scary and sad".

She also laid praise on the sound design of the episode by saying that "the integration of a ticking clock worked so well not just in the usual 'time is running out' way, but also a subconscious reminder of Hannibal's manipulation of Will".

The site's consensus reads: "Bryan Fuller serves up another delightfully demented season of Hannibal, featuring a hearty helping of gorgeous gore, paired with a sweet side of twisted humor.

Bonus features include episode audio commentaries with cast and crew, several behind-the-scenes featurettes, a gag reel, deleted scenes and the "Post Mortem" webisodes hosted by Scott Thompson.

Bonus features include ten audio commentaries with cast and crew, producer's cut versions of seven episodes, several behind-the-scenes featurettes, a gag reel, deleted scenes, and the "Post Mortem" webisodes hosted by Scott Thompson.