Did Pirates Kill 'Hannibal'?

After three seasons, NBC decided to not renew the critically-acclaimed fan favorite Hannibal, in 2015. 50,000 people signed a petition asking NBC to make a fourth season. Hulu and Amazon were reportedly considering picking up the show. But neither outlet ended up returning to the dinner table for Hannibal.

Executive Producer Martha De Laurentiis believes she knows who’s to blame for the show’s demise… online pirates. Hannibal was the 5th most illegally downloaded show of 2013.Millions of viewers watched the show illegally, despite it being available for legal download a day after air.

Executive Producer De Laurentiis says, “When nearly one-third of your audience for Hannibal is coming from pirated sites… You don’t have to know calculus to do the math. If a show is stolen, it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to fairly compensate a crew and keep a series in production.”

Of course, piracy affects lots of popular shows like Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Big Bang Theory, Mr. Robot, and The Flash. But they have strong enough ratings to stay on the air.

What do you think… Did pirates kill Hannibal? Or was the audience just not there? Let us know in the comments below!

And check out Yahoo TV’s Comic-Con interview with the cast of Hannibal.