Hannibal has been such a groundbreaking show in terms of its interaction with fans, especially through social media; as such, I believe it provides an important site for identifying how producer/fan and fan/fan interactions operate differently on those sites than others and perhaps require the development of new kinds of ethical models specific to these relationships.

While save-our-show campaigns are nothing new, I worry that the vocal encouragement of those in charge and the increased visibility and accessibility of this particular effort on these particular platforms is a sign of what is to come. I have very much appreciated and enjoyed the active involvement of Hannibal’s creators in its fan labors, but if Hannibal is picked up by another distributor and its renewal is attributed to the work of its fans, round-the-clock mass tweeting taken in shifts may become the expected response of fans rather than the exceptional response. If fans are already asked to be financial backers of the continuations of their favorite stories through crowdfunding, the usual word-of-mouth labor of fans may become even more of a commitment. Who needs to pay a publicist when there is a dedicated fanbase to invest hours into tweeting about your show?

And all of my criticism is made even more troubling by the fact that this show has done such a fantastic job of, as you have explained so well, courting and cultivating a fanbase that serves so many niche and under-represented demographics. Hannibal has of course always necessarily been a capitalist product, but only at the end did it begin to seem exploitative. I’m not ready to retire my “Bryan Fuller: Benevolent Overlord” Tumblr tag, but I worry where we go from here.