Hannibal ending explained: What happens to Will Graham?

Psychological horror and gory crime meet edge-of-the-seat thrill in Hannibal, a TV show inspired by the iconic Thomas Harris character Hannibal Lecter, known across different decades of media as the cunning, manipulative, and cannibalistic anti-hero. The series focuses on FBI Agent Will Graham, whose slow mental decline makes him putty in the hands of his forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Lecter.

For three seasons, showrunner Bryan Fuller explores the intense push and pull of the duo's odd relationship, from Lecter's need to push Will over to the dark side to Will struggling with his identity as someone who loves to kill. Their friendship stems from a deep understanding of each other's desires. But in turn, that understanding turns them against each other.

By season 3, Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) is in prison after he turns himself in, and Will retires, gets married, and tries to move on with his life. However, with the arrival of Dolarhyde, AKA, the Dragon, a serial killer who is obsessed with William Blake's The Great Red Dragon painting, the duo are forced back together for one final mission.

What happens to Will Graham and his soul nemesis, Hannibal Lecter? Here's the rundown.

Disclaimer: All opinions in this article belong solely to the writer. Spoilers ahead.

The tango between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter continues in season 3

But first, a quick recap of events

Hannibal stabs Will (Image via YouTube/StudiocanalUK)

By the end of Hannibal season 2, Will and Lecter go head-to-head. Lecter, whose feelings of betrayal compound his inexplicable rage, attacks Will, kills Abigail (who was resurrected after being assumed dead all along), Alana Bloom, and Jack Crawford in his mansion before fleeing to Italy with Bedelia (Gillian Anderson). He knows law enforcement is closing in on him, and his trip feels like a last hurrah.

Cut to season 3, and Will (Hugh Dancy) is alive and in hot pursuit of Lecter, who lives under a different identity. While he isn't entirely sure whether he wants to make up with him or end his tryst with him once and for all, he ends up in Lecter's grasp again.

Crawford attacks Lecter (Image via YouTube/StudiocanalUK)

Meanwhile, FBI agent Jack Crawford, who also survives grave injuries inflicted by Hannibal Lecter in the season 2 finale, tracks him down in Italy and engages in a physical altercation in a fit of rage. The wily Lecter escapes before forcing Crawford to watch him almost perform a craniotomy on Graham. However, things go south with a familiar season 2 villain making a comeback: Mason Verger.

Lecter turns himself in

Will and Lecter reunite in Italy and face Verger (Image via YouTube/StudiocanalUK)

Italian detectives working for Verger capture Will and Lecter and take them to Verger, who has specific, gory plans for each of them. He wants to carve Will's face and wear it as his own, then hack Lecter into pieces and feast on his flesh. Yes, that is about as horrifying as the show could've gotten.

However, Alana Bloom and Verger's sister, Margot, intervene and release Lecter, who helps them extract semen from Verger for a legal heir before the duo sends him to a grotesque death by drowning him in his eel tank.

Lecter and Will survive, and Will tells Lecter he never wants to see him or hear of him ever again. Hannibal, who had to have the last laugh, turns himself in to Crawford and his agents, in an attempt to remind Will he would always know where his nemesis is.

Hannibal season 3's time skip

Will and Lester are drawn to each other (Image via Netflix)

The show skips ahead three years. Will is married and retired from the force, and things are seemingly normal until the arrival of the last and final villain in the show's expansive legacy: Francis Dolarhyde. His excessive childhood trauma turns him psychopathic with a split personality disorder.

As the "Great Red Dragon", he murders families on a lunar cycle to become a misguided version of his truest self. His idol? None other than cannibal Hannibal himself. He reaches out to Lecter in prison, who connects him with his good old pal, Will Graham.

In an obvious turn of events, Dolarhyde attacks Will's wife and stepson, but he manages to save them. Dolarhyde also attacks Chilton, biting his lips off and sending them as a present to Lecter in prison.

Amidst his murderous spree, Dolarhyde is also in love with the blind Reba, who makes him almost want to give up killing, the keyword being almost. His alter ego, the Dragon, isn't fond of recent developments, especially when Dolarhyde tries to eat the original William Blake painting at the Brooklyn Museum in hopes of vanquishing his alter ego. This does nothing but make the Dragon angrier.

With his obsessions mounting, Will returns to Lecter for one final adventure: Team up and take the Dragon down. However, in the Hannibal season 3 finale titled "The Wrath of the Lamb", Dolarhyde kills himself in front of Reba after setting his house on fire. Reba escapes.

Does Will Graham want Lecter dead?

Turns out, it was all a ruse. Fans of Hannibal should've immediately smelled something fishy when a dangerous villain's arc ends abruptly. Will Graham gathers information from Reba about Dolarhyde's apparent suicide, but on returning to his hotel room, he is promptly attacked by a very alive Dolarhyde, who is disappointed in Lecter. Will convinces him to go after Lecter.

Will is attacked in his hotel room (Image via Prime Video)

Meanwhile, Will begins his final goodbyes to Lecter by telling him his rejection in Italy was intentional, and that he wanted Lecter to turn himself in. Alana, who has her agenda to go after, teams up with Lecter and strikes a deal: Lecter helps them catch Dolarhyde in return for privileges.

Hannibal Lecter agrees, but on one condition. He wants Will Graham to propose the plan to him. Will agrees, but unbeknownst to Lecter, another game is afoot. The plan is not just to kill Dolarhyde, but Lecter too. But Will confesses to Bedelia that if Lecter escapes this time, he will not be going after him.

Will uses Lecter to lure Dolarhyde in Hannibal season 3

Will and Lecter use the police car to escape (Image via YouTube/StudiocanalUK)

Will Graham's grand plan to take the Dragon down once and for all is to fake release Lecter from prison in hopes of baiting him. True to form, Dolarhyde attacks the convoy that was transporting Lecter to his new facility and kills the guards, but lets the duo go. They hide out at the beach house that fans last saw Lecter and Miriam in, in Hannibal season 2.

In true Will and Lecter fashion, they await the final battle while philosophizing on life and morals when Dolarhyde makes his presence felt. Hannibal season 3's climax is cinematic. The fight scene is gruesome and bloody, true to the show's legacy, and Dolarhyde manages to seriously maim the duo, shooting Lecter and cutting Will's face.

The Dragon falls in the final battle (Image via YouTube/StudiocanalUK)

In extreme slow motion, fans watch Will fully give in to his Lecter-esque tendencies. As a feral Lecter lunges for and rips the Dragon's throat, Will lethally punctures his gut with a knife, killing him. The final villain of the epic horror crime drama lies bleeding to death, his blood forming angelic wings around him.

Hannibal season 3 ends on a symbolic note

Will and Lecter embrace (Image via YouTube/StudiocanalUK)

The passionate undercurrents that subtly captured the true depth of Will and Lecter's relationship hit a crescendo as a bloodied Will embraces Lecter. The embrace might mean many things: Will is accepting the darkness that rages within him. Will is understanding Lecter's twisted but true nature. Will is surrendering to what lies ahead.

The final scene before the end credits is a poem in slow motion. Will clings on to his mortal enemy, and perhaps his truest friend, and the duo falls off the cliff, into the churning seas below. The fall is Will's attempt to test fate. If they survive, it is a new dawn and a new life for both of them. If they die, he may have finally accomplished crushing the darkness he desperately fought for three seasons.

As the soundtrack Love Crime by Siouxsie and Brian Reitzell croons, "I survive, live, and thrive" in the background, fans are left wondering what happens to the duo.

Are Will and Lecter dead in Hannibal season 3's series finale?

Bedelia feasts on her own leg (Image via YouTube/StudiocanalUK)

The show ends on a cliffhanger, with a jarring after-credits scene. Bedelia is at the head of a dinner table, and the main dish? A large human leg. Turns out, it is Bedelia's leg that's the star attraction. The table has place settings for two others, suggesting that Hannibal and Will ultimately survive the fall and are back together for a little cannibalistic feast.

Maybe they survived, lived, and thrived, just like the soundtrack hinted.

Watch all episodes of Hannibal on Netflix.

Edited by Tiasha