Hannigram Quotes

Actors & Producers about Season 1

Mads Mikkelsen: "In my eyes, there's no doubt that the second that Hannibal lays his eyes on Will for the first time, he fell in love."

Hugh Dancy about Will meeting Hannibal: "Imagine you are playing chess and you are the only person in the world who plays chess, and then someone else walks in the room with a chess board."

Hugh Dancy on Will and Hannibal's relationship: "The analogy I've always used for Will, it's like for his whole life he's been not only a great chess player, but in fact the only person in the whole world who knows the rules of chess. Then another person walks in the room, who's also a genius chess player, and that sense of relief and gratitude and recognition is powerful. It's an instant love between them. It is as if Will met not the best chess player in the world, but the only absolute the only person he can play with, that enters in the room - or rather in his life - with a chessboard in hand, and this provokes in him a pleasure and an incredible relief."

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Hugh Dancy: "Well, Hannibal is almost the first person, for certainly a very long time, that Will does allow into his life. They are the two smartest people in the room, in the terms of what they both do. The only difference is that Will doesn't know what Hannibal does in his spare time. But, of course, Hannibal has an agenda for Will, he doesn't know about. Hannibal doesn't think he's doing anything cruel or unfair to Will. Or, at the very least, he thinks that with little help, with a little nudging, Will can recognize something about himself. And, if he fully embraced it, fully embraced that darkness, then he could be, I don't know what... a companion, friend, partner to Hannibal. As Will becomes more fragile, more suggestible, Hannibal's methods become darker I guess."

Bryan Fuller: "His feeling toward Will Graham are absolutely sincere and genuine. In Hannibal's mind, everything he has done to thwart Will's psyche has been a radical, unorthodox form of therapy. So it's almost bad parenting, in a way, where I want what's good for my child or the person of my affections, but my point of view on the world is going to greatly determine whether that is actually good for them or if it is actually quite damaging. In Hannibal's mind, everything that he has done to Will Graham and for Will Graham has been to get Will to a place where he can more truthfully see himself and accept what it is, he is as an empath, as a human being, as sort of a pure thing in Hannibal's mind. It's part of the attraction. For Hannibal, he wants an equal of sorts, and Will Graham is in some ways, on the other side of the mirror, a purer soul than Hannibal is, but they have a similar intelligence and they have a similar understanding of the darkness that lies in a man's soul. Hannibal's just trying to convince Will that it's okay to be the way you are. It's okay to think about killing people. It's okay to kill people. Those are all the things that Hannibal is just trying to help Will accept about himself, and I think now that we've crossed this benchmark in their relationship, that's not going to stop Hannibal from trying to convince Will that he did do these things and he should just accept it."

"Hannibal" executive producer and showrunner Bryan Fuller explained in an interview that Hannibal's feelings for Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) are entirely sincere. He says that Hannibal views Will as a real patient, undergoing a highly unorthodox (you can say that again!) form of therapy. The therapy is intended to turn Will into a murderer - what Hannibal views as the purest form of something that already exists inside of him - and an equal.

Despite the fact that Will seems to be Hannibal's opposite (hyper-empathetic as opposed to non-empathetic), Fuller suggests that Hannibal feels a real sense of friendship toward Will. Fuller even implies that the tears Hannibal has shed for Will and Abigail Hobbs (Kacey Rohl) are genuine, although perhaps for different reasons than those Hannibal voiced to his own therapist, Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson).

https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/21/hannibal-bryan-fuller-on-season-1s-big-finale-and-whats-next-in-season-2

Bryan Fuller: "For us in the story of Hannibal in the first season is really about the friendship, the bromance between Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham. The relationship between Will and Hannibal in this first season is the seduction. It is Hannibal Lecter recognizing in Will Graham for the first time in anyone that he's ever encountered in his life - the opportunity for a friendship, a real friendship. Because he sees something in WIl Graham that he also sees in himself. They're both unique and they're crazy."

Martha de Laurentiis: "Hannibal has found someone in Will, that Hannibal can be a friend with. Hannibal Lecter doesn't really have friends. And Will Graham, oddly enough, has his own issues. He's a broken man. Adorable, vulnerable, but he's broken. And, so the two do come together. Of course, they don't trust each other. But, it's the manipulation of Hannibal Lecter, to kind of see that he can make this friendship with WiIl, that WiIl should open up. So, it's that transformation of WiIl's character to then drift towards the friendship, and once you get too close Hannibal will bite back, so, we know we're leading up to that. So, it always has that tension of - where is this going and watch out WiIl."

Mads Mikkelsen: "Will is a high profiler at the FBI, but he has a hard time embarrassing all the cases because he's got too much empathy. And, that's where I come into the picture. I'm hired to help him out, to guide him through his job. And, it's like a candy store, of course, for me. I think that the key to the whole relationship is a mind-game thing. Will is a very interesting character for Hannibal. Hannibal finds him very interesting, intriguing. He can mirror himself in him, a younger version, maybe, and it gives him a fantastic opportunity to play around with this young man and maybe even get him on his side without him knowing it."

Mads Mikkelsen: "Will's not a healthy man. There's something wrong with him. And, I will make sure I can cure that."

Mads Mikkelsen: "In the scripts, there is a kind of a bromance between Will and Hannibal, that is quite real, and I believe that Hannibal is quite happy to finally be able to make a friend."