Hugh Dancy Talks Hannibal: Season 2 and Will Graham Planning to Fight Back

“He’s totally on his own.”
One of the best shows on TV, Hannibal is back for Season 2 this Friday. When last we saw Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), he was in big, big trouble – framed by Hannibal Lecter for Hannibal’s own murders and locked up. Yet after believing he was going mad, and maybe even had committed these crimes, Will saw the truth – and knows Hannibal is the one responsible.

I spoke with Hugh Dancy about the second season of Hannibal, how Will is reacting to his situation and more.

IGN TV: Your character went through so much in the first season and things are dire for him now, as far as being locked up, but where is he at psychologically?

Hugh Dancy: Well, you know, the one thing he’s got going for him — the only thing he’s got going for him — in Season 2, is he’s finally playing with a full deck of cards. He understands who Hannibal is, or maybe not fully, but he understands what Hannibal’s done to him. Even though he’s totally isolated, he is in a position to start fighting back, fully informed. That kind of clarity is so important to him. I think the worst thing that happened to Will in the first season was his fear that he was losing his mind, that his personality was breaking down. So in that respect, strangely, I always imagined Will — even though he’s in prison, even though he’s locked up — being more powerful than he’s ever been before.

IGN: What your show did in Season 1, other shows might have done a few seasons in, which is the psychological unraveling of your character. We kind of met him while that was happening. So was it interesting for you now to take that step back and see him in a more focused state of mind?

Dancy: Yeah, yeah, it started in episode one; that’s right. It was pretty bold. So that path that was tracked out for the season, I had a pretty clear understanding of it when we started. Not so much the case with Season 2. Bryan, he broke the first half, and then, as he said, we’ll get into the second half. So there’s a kind of mini-finale halfway through the season, and a lot of things come to fruition. But yeah, now, it’s almost like a reversal. It’s like a reversal of the first season in that Will is getting closer and closer to being a fully controlled version of himself. But in order to do that and in order to reengage Hannibal, he has to honestly turn inwards and look at the darker aspect of his own personality. So there’s a risk to him involved as well.

IGN: Right now the evidence is against him, and all he has is his word. So how is there anything he can do – because even someone like Alana is on his side, yet she thinks he’s guilty?

Dancy: Yeah, she’s only so much on his side, and it’s not that reassuring when your friend’s saying, “Hey, look, we just think you’re crazy. Maybe you didn’t know you were doing it.” That’s a pretty limited form of support. No, he’s totally on his own. What we play out from the moment the first season ended — I don’t mean that it opens up with the conversation between Hannibal and me in jail, but we don’t jump ahead. So we play out Will still trying to convince people, still telling Jack, Beverly, whoever — nobody’s listening. Nobody is willing to buy. So that’s the point that he realizes, “Okay, I’m going to have to be self-sufficient.”

IGN: Your character is physically confined as the season begins. As far as your acting is concerned — he’s in the cell, he’s in that therapy cage — is that horribly frustrating for you, or is it an interesting exercise for you because that’s where Will’s at?

Dancy: It’s helpful to come extent. I think it’s challenging in that therapy cage, in that hall — it looks fantastic — but you’ve then got to figure out, once you get into the scene, they have to do something with the camera to keep it interesting. It was fun watching different directors grapple with that in different ways. From my perspective, I kind of enjoyed it. It was nice never having to change costumes. [Laughs] But it’s also true that acting behind bars is a very specific thing, because the camera’s on the other side, and you’re always having to — you can’t vaguely hit your mark. It’s always about leaning one inch to the left or one inch to the right. So it makes it a little bit hard to get out of your own head. But that aside, it’s also very iconic. I think for a lot of people the association with Hannibal and Silence of the Lambs, it’s always about those conversations taking place from the cell, with the visitor. So I kind of dug that.

IGN: Hannibal was Will’s confidant and someone who was becoming his friend in the first season. So besides the fact that he obviously wants to get himself out of there, what does he think of Hannibal as far as the betrayal? Even if Hannibal, in his skewed mind, thinks he’s doing something for Will, Will understandably wouldn’t see it that way.

Dancy: No, and I think even Hannibal isn’t pleased with the fact that Will’s in jail. I mean, it was an inevitability because that was Hannibal’s defense, right? But he wasn’t plotting that from the word “go,” I don’t think at all. Now, if anything, Hannibal is just as upset as Will that Will’s locked up. I think Will despises Hannibal because of who he now realizes he is, but also, as you say, because of his betrayal. But again, out of that comes a kind of strength, which is the strength of self-reliance. Ultimately, not to get too far ahead or give anything away, but I think Will, after trying various tactics, realizes that the only way he’s ever going to outmaneuver Hannibal is by reengaging with him. You can’t lie to Hannibal — he’d see through it; he’s too clever. So the only way Will can do that is honestly recognize for himself that he is drawn to Hannibal, that there’s some part or some connection that still exists. So that’s where we are. We’re now filming episode eight, and I would say that we move into the season — so as we’re in that second half, that’s what we’re tinkering with, but I don’t want to give any more away than that.

IGN: If this show goes several years — knock on wood — Bryan [Fuller] has talked about how he wants to take it through the whole Hannibal Lecter story, including into the Silence of the Lambs era and beyond, which is very interesting because we’ve never seen Will Graham after Red Dragon.

Dancy: No. I think he’s mentioned in Silence of the Lambs and in Hannibal — in the books, that is — as having been this kind of legendary profiler in the FBI who basically got burned out and is now an alcoholic, like, a Diesel mechanic; he’s retreated down to Florida, and he’s boozing. I’ve heard Bryan voice various, different versions of where he might get to. We would obviously have to get through Red Dragon, first of all. I think there’s a question as to how fully you would dive into the books, because it’s one thing for people to know the canon and to enjoy seeing us move away towards it. It’s another thing to then just go back and slavishly reenact it, having created such a rich world of our own making. So my guess is it would become part of a bigger story perhaps. But yeah, once we get out of Red Dragon, your guess is as good as mine. Whether Will sticks around, whether he does indeed vanish, whether we ever get Clarice — because there’s still a rights issue. So yeah, I don’t know. I’m in it for as long as I can be.

Hannibal: Season 2 premieres Friday, February 28th at 10pm on NBC.

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