Why An Episode Of NBC's Hannibal Was Banned In America

This post contains spoilers for NBC's "Hannibal."

It's one thing to explore the impulses of a brilliant yet twisted mind, and another to mirror such a complex character with someone bursting at the seams with radical empathy. In Bryan Fuller's "Hannibal," FBI special investigator Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) aids investigations by reluctantly putting himself in the shoes of notorious killers, but this professional obligation quickly morphs into an obsessive itch once he crosses paths with Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen). This fated encounter starts as a cat-and-mouse game, as the initially oblivious Will finds himself drawn to Hannibal's darkness without consciously realizing what it truly represents.

However, the crux of "Hannibal" is not about how long the titular therapist/killer is able to hoodwink Will and keep his secrets hidden. It is about how Will viscerally reacts to this truth time and again, mirroring Hannibal's soul until their fates become inseparable like serpents coiled around one another. In simpler words, "Hannibal" is a doomed love story, replete with unforgettable images of old friends cooked for dinner and vocal cords exposed to form a musical instrument. After all, "Hannibal" is an uncompromising showcase of gorgeously unsettling imagery, where these strange, violent events exist somewhere between reality and unreality. This surreal bent has produced some genuinely brutal, disturbing sequences, but Fuller's vision has never once strayed from the poetic philosophy that has come to define the show's ethos.

Thankfully, none of these gore/violence-heavy episodes were pulled or censored at any point, and "Hannibal" has undoubtedly pushed the limits of what subject matters can be depicted on network television. However, a certain early-season episode did not air on NBC because its subject matter inadvertently echoed a real-life tragedy that had taken place months before. Here's what happened.

Episode 4 of the show's first season, titled "Oeuf," presents Will with a fresh case, in which the murder of two seemingly unrelated families raises uneasy questions. Upon further investigation, Will realizes that both family units have a missing son and that these boys are killing their own families for some reason. By the end of this distressing episode, we learn that these missing boys are being manipulated by a woman named Eva (Molly Shannon), who has been urging them to shoot their parents/siblings to prove their loyalty to her as newly adopted children. Although "Oeuf" was supposed to be just another high-stakes episode that followed the "case-of-the-week" format, Fuller felt that a story featuring murderous kids brandishing guns would be in bad taste in light of the Sandy Hook shooting that had occurred months prior.

The timing of this episode was rather unfortunate, as the show's first season was filmed in its entirety way before the tragic mass shooting had transpired. Fuller contacted NBC five days before the broadcast date (April 25, 2013), and asked them to not air said episode due to the "cultural climate" in the U.S. at the time. Fuller also clarified his stance by issuing the following statement to Variety:

"I didn't want to have anyone come to the show and have a negative experience. Whenever you [write] a story and look at the sensational aspects of storytelling, you think, 'This is interesting metaphorically, and this is interesting as social commentary.' With this episode, it wasn't about the graphic imagery or violence. It was the associations that came with the subject matter that I felt would inhibit the enjoyment of the overall episode [...] It was my own sensitivity."

Although the episode did not air in the U.S., a portion of "Oeuf" that dealt with Hannibal and his paternal fixation on a character named Abigail was made available for fans on NBC's website, as well as some media outlets. The complete episode was eventually made available from April 19 onwards, and you can still rent, buy, or stream it in its entirety.