Keeping in tradition with hating everything you love, NBC has canceled the critically acclaimed drama series Hannibal, TV.com has learned. (I'll wait while you cry disgustingly beautiful, artificial blood tears.) Adapted for television by mad genius Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies), the perverse and highly stylized masterpiece starred Hugh Dancy as Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen as the titular cannibal from Thomas Harris' novels.
One of the most beautifully filmed series on TV, the show always felt a bit out of place on broadcast television, but would fit nicely at home on a cable network looking to up its prestige factor. Do you hear me, cable networks looking to up your prestige factor? Do not let this stunning psychological thriller slip your fingers! And not just because I know a guy who knows a guy who kills people and eats them for dinner.
For what it's worth, Fuller, who is signed on to adapt Neil Gaiman's American Gods for Starz, appeared to take the news a little bit better than we did. "NBC has allowed us to craft a television series that no other broadcast network would have dared, and kept us on the air for three seasons despite Cancellation Bear Chow ratings and images that would have shredded the eyeballs of lesser Standards & Practices enforcers,” Fuller said in a statement. “[NBC president] Jen Salke and her team have been fantastic partners and creatively supportive beyond measure."
Hannibal was the first series created by Fuller to reach three seasons.
UPDATE: All hope is not lost! The company that produces Hannibal has confirmed its shopping Hannibal elsewhere.