How James Cameron’s Avatar Had a Huge Influence on Hannibal TV Series

One of the more moving and memorable moments of the Hannibal Season 2 finale comes when Hugh FBI profiler Dancy’s Will Graham is stabbed by Mads Mikkelsen’s titular serial killer, Will having betrayed Hannibal as the FBI closed in. At a point in the scene, Hannibal tells a bleeding Will that he had let him “see” him and it turns out, that moment had an interesting source of inspiration: James Cameron’s 2010 film Avatar.

“One of the things that I think was the key in terms of turning it into a romance was this idea of Will and Hannibal being the only person in each other’s life that truly understood them and could truly see who they are and accept them on those terms,” series creator Bryan Fuller told Entertainment Weekly about the relationship between Will and Hannibal.

He then went on to explain how Avatar came into play. In the film, human beings attempt to colonize a planet that is home to a species of blue aliens, the Na’vi and in the Na’vi language, the phrase “I see you” has a much deeper meaning. It means that you not only see them, but you understand and embrace everything about them and who they are. Fuller explained that it was something he thought about a lot in terms of Hannibal and Will’s relationship.

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s such an elegant piece of humanity that James Cameron has woven into this alien culture,’” Fuller said. “I actually thought about Avatar quite a bit when Hannibal and Will would say to each other that they see each other and that they have shown each other things about themselves that no one else can see.”

For Fuller, Hannibal telling Will “I let you know me — see me” was “the greatest declaration of love that Hannibal could make.” However, when it comes to other ways of showing love, the series never actually brought the two characters together, not even for a kiss and that’s something that Fuller said he would do differently had he the chance.

“There were several takes and there was never any actual lip locking,” Fuller said. “But there was a lingering [in one take] where Mads’s lips parted, hovering over Will’s mouth in a way that went on… For a while. When I was watching dailies, it seemed like an eternity. The issue for me was always, I didn’t want to make their love story expectational or artificial or forced. I always wanted it to be organic. I didn’t know in that moment if it would cross over into that level of physicality beyond holding each other, and there was something about holding each other and leaning in to each other and looking deeply into each other’s eyes that felt more authentic and more romantic to me than a kiss ever would.”

“But if I had to do it again, I might suggest to kiss and see how it played. But neither of the actors were ever afraid of going there. If there were any concerns, it was always just about the remaining authentic. That certainly was my goal because, yes, I absolutely wanted to see them kiss. That would be wank bank material for the best of us [Laughs]. But I was just really trying to maintain authenticity in the moment. The shot that’s in there felt the most authentic and felt like it struck the right balance. But if I could get back into the editing room, I might do something differently now.”