Fans of NBC’s Hannibal are a bit on the unconventional side. They call themselves “fannibals” and have an oddly jolly sense of humor about a show featuring notorious cannibal Hannibal Lecter. After the show began airing last year, the fanbase appeared fast and strong, making their presence known on social media sites like Tumblr and Twitter. It’s been a long wait for Fannibals during the hiatus (or as they call it, the he-ate-us), but this Friday that wait comes to an end. These super fans are more than excited to start the second course of this critically acclaimed series.
This is a season that fans were not certain they would get until the end of the first. “There was a big sigh of relief when the season ended and a second season was confirmed. Nothing was certain for quite a long time and we’d all campaigned, so that was something we were keen to celebrate once the season was over. Then it was all about maintaining the passion throughout the he-ate-us,” said Laura Spencer, creator of the blog idontfindyouthatinteresting.tumblr.com.
The Bryan Fuller creation is a dark and twisted show, featuring the madness of more than just the titular character. It’s not a show for the faint of heart, and this caused many fans to wonder if this would result in the show’s cancellation. They campaigned for show by encouraging others to watch, writing to NBC, and by continuing to spread their quirky brand of comedy. “Fannibals have a very particular sense of humor and its fab. I love it,” said Izzy, who runs the humorous imaginehanniballecter.tumblr.com blog.
NBC took notice of the fannibals and have been unusually supportive. It’s not often we see a series show as much love for its fans as Hannibal. The cast and crew are very involved with fans across the most popular social media platforms. From wearing flower crowns (a popular fannibal joke where stills from the show are edited with flower crowns added to the characters’ heads) to the running of an active official blog on Tumblr filled with shout outs to the fans, fannibals are well taken care of.
“The mutual respect has been wonderful. We aren’t mocked or reduced by the cast, we’re acknowledged as intelligent viewers and as an integral part of the show’s production,” said Grace McKinnon, runner of beastheads.tumblr.com, an active Hannibal blog.
Not only was the show renewed for a second season, it’s been moved to a primetime Friday timeslot, new merchandise is planned, streaming for the show is available on Amazon Prime, and recently the #13HourDevour event was held. In this partnership with Amazon, NBC asked fans to join them on February 23rd to binge watch all thirteen episodes of the first season, while contests and live tweeting happened on Twitter.
“We even hosted a livestream for the #13HourDevour and Bryan Fuller stopped in four times to join us! We had nearly 300 viewers at one point,” said McKinnon.
Dedicated fans have been gearing up on Tumblr for the premiere, fan works abound, contests have been held, chatter has ensued, predictions made, and films have been watched. The popularity of the show has caused fans to seek out other films that the stars have been. This is particularly true of Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy, the show’s two main characters.
Already fannibals are making plans to celebrate season two. Which such an interesting fanbase, we’re sure to see more fan-created content and hilarity this season. Spencer had this to say, “I can’t wait to live tweet with everyone again, it’s going to be an amazing 13 weeks when we get to do all of this again!”
Hannibal season two premieres Friday, February 28th on NBC at 10PM.
- Amanda Lafond
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