Mads Mikkelsenas the iconic Dr. Hannibal Lecter andHugh Dancyas investigator Will Graham in the regrettably canceled-too-soon seriesHannibalalways had a relationship with sexual tension that was practically screaming out for the duo to kiss. As it turns out, they almost did. In awonderful and wide-ranging interviewin Vulture, Mikkelsen revealed a kiss nearly happened, though it was nixed by creatorBryan Fuller.
Mikkelsen shared that he had always seen Hannibal’s relationship with Will as a romance, but “not necessarily something that would become physical.” In the climactic scene that culminates in the murder of Francis Dolarhyde (played byRichard Armitage), the actor also said that he and Dancy actually considered sealing the moment with a kiss: “Me and Hugh were like, “Why not? We have a couple of takes. Let’s do one. It might be cool.”
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Alas, the take didn’t ultimately happen, as Mikkelsen expanded:
“Never went for the kiss. Bryan loved it, but he was like, “Too much, guys. It’s too obvious.” And he was absolutely right. But I think we were just stuck on that. And a lot of the Fannibals wanted it as well. It’s been a subject of homoerotic fan art. And for good reason, because they are so united as twins in many ways. But we never wanted it to be a physical thing. It was something much bigger than that.”
The sound you now hear is thousands of fanfiction writers crying out in sadness that the kiss did not occur. While Fuller is probably right and the relationship between the characters was built around subtlety, one does still almost wish there was a deleted scene somewhere of the two locking lips just once. Between that and what sounds likea bizarre audition for aFantastic Fourmovie, the entire Vulture career retrospective is fascinating to hear Mikkelsen reflect on his life.
When it comes to a potential future forHannibal, the show has found a second life on Netflix and the team has said they would be interested inreturning to the story. It all comes down to getting those whoown the rights to the characterto get on board, which at this point seems unfortunately unlikely. At least we’ll always have the fanfiction of what could have been between the two steamy lovers that were always meant to be together.
