Hannibal star Caroline Dhavernas explains how the show became a feminist and LBGTQ+ landmark with its strong female and queer characters. Hannibal is a psychological horror series created by Bryan Fuller that ran for three seasons beginning in 2013. The critically acclaimed series was based on Thomas Harris' Hannibal novels and sees Mads Mikkelsen take on the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Hannibal follows FBI criminal profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) as he investigates a serial killer with forensic psychiatrist Lecter, unaware of his supervisor's true identity. The series also features some strong female characters including blogger Fredricka "Freddie" Lounds (Lara Jean Chorostecki), psychology professor Alana Bloom (Dhavernas), and Lecter's patient and Bloom's love interest Margot Verger (Katharine Isabelle).
In an interview with Screen Rant, Dhavernas detailed how Hannibal came to offer such a strong representation of women and the LGBTQ+ community. She revealed that accurate representation of women was something that Fuller was concerned about from the beginning. While the Hannibal books by Harris do feature women, the most prominent ones were victims of abuse or Lecter's love interests. Meanwhile, the roles of cunning journalists, psychologists, and FBI consultants were given to men. As a result, Fuller sought to remedy this and also decided to delve deeper into Harris' lesbian character, Verger. Check out Dhavernas statement below:
"During the recording of an audio commentary in L.A, Bryan mentioned he wanted to create a love interest for Margot Verger in season 3, and I said: “I’ll do it”. Katherine Isabelle is a very cool human, it was easy. At the very beginning of the show, Bryan told me we wanted to make sure the female characters weren’t only the victims, that is why Alan Bloom from the books became Alana Bloom, and why Freddie Lounds became a woman as well. That is also quite a feminist move from Bryan and I loving the fact that he noticed this issue and made bold decisions to make sure the show had strong female characters. The relationship between Hannibal and Will is also very close to a deep love…So yes, on many levels, Bryan was well ahead!"
Hannibal's LGBTQ+ & Feminist Representation Explained
As Dhavernas explained, Hannibal tackles the horror genre from a more feminist perspective. Most Hannibal adaptations have followed the book's mold and featured more roles for men than for women. Hence, Fuller decided to completely reinvent a few characters and turned them from rather flat men into complicated, interesting, and powerful women. What Fuller did went far beyond just gender-swapping Alan Bloom and Freddie Lounds and showed that he put a good deal of thought into how to reinvent the characters in a way that would portray women positively.
For example, Freddie undergoes quite a dramatic transformation in Hannibal. Instead of being the annoying buck-toothed, rat-eyed egotistical, and unethical journalist he was in the Hannibal Lecter books, Chorostecki reinvented him as a sophisticated, skilled, and deeply intelligent female journalist who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. In addition to this, while the book briefly touched on Verger's sexuality, Fuller decided to fully explore this aspect of identity by giving her a lover. Verger's and Bloom's relationship became one of the best of the series, as they managed to have a fun, flirty, and powerful connection despite the darkness and dangerous men that threatened them.
Hannibal further hones in on authentic LGBTQ+ representation by exploring two very different kinds of LGBTQ+ relationships. First, there is the relationship between Verger and Bloom, which is explicitly confirmed in the series. However, the show also probes the more subtle relationship between Lecter and Graham. While their relationship is rather ambiguous, it cannot be denied that the two share an intense and very intimate connection with each other. The subtlety in the relationship highlights the complex journey of Graham who believes himself to be heterosexual, but can't deny intimate feelings arising from his homosocial relationship with Lecter. While the show has been accused of queerbaiting because Lecter's and Graham's relationship isn't physical, it actually offers several very different and nuanced depictions of LBGTQ+ characters. Between its integration of powerful women and authentic LGBTQ+ characters, Hannibal has become quite a significant contribution to feminist and LBGTQ+ representation.
Hannibal Wouldn’t Have Worked Without One Small Real-Life Detail