NBC cancelled Hannibal in 2015 after opting not to renew the low-rated yet critically-acclaimed horror series for Season 4.
Now, with Hannibal still doomed to cancellation hell, exec producer Martha De Laurentiis has blamed pirates for the show’s demise, per The Hill:
When NBC decided not to renew “Hannibal” for a fourth season — a show on which I served as executive producer — it wasn’t much of a leap to connect its fate with the fact that the show was ranked as the fifth-most illegally downloaded show in 2013. When nearly one-third of the audience for “Hannibal” is coming from pirated sites — despite the fact that a legitimate download for each episode was available the following day — you don’t have to know calculus to do the math. If a show is stolen, it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to fairly compensate a crew and keep a series in production.
Did pirates kill “Hannibal”? Unfortunately, that is a cliffhanger that might last for a while. With more than 2 million viewers watching our show illegally, it’s hard not to think online pirates were, at the very least, partly responsible for hundreds of crew members losing their jobs and millions of fans — who watched the show legitimately — mourning the loss of a beloved program.
Stay tuned for updates in the event that Hannibal is somehow resurrected for Season 4…
Lai says
so the show being repetitive, boring and becoming awful had nothing to do with it huh? curious, very curious
Kim says
I don’t understand why people have to be so greedy, they only had to wait 1 day to watch the show legally. Well one way or another, they’ll be paid back for being stupid, selfish and morally bankrupt thieves. Personally I didn’t watch plain and simply because I’m not into horror, but many of my family and friends are.