History Series / Hannibal

* IntercontinuityCrossover: One of the Gardener's would-be victims in "Amuse-Bouche" is [[Series/Wonderfalls Gretchen Speck]] (she dropped the Horowitz in the divorce). She's even played by the same actress.

* {{Catchphase}}: Whatever Will Graham is either talking (or perhaps thinking) to himself at a crime scene or teaching a class, he often has "This my design" somewhere in this.

** Crawford, too. When he talks to Graham in the bathroom and another agent walks in, Crawford simply yells, "[[NoIndoorVoice USE THE LADIES' ROOM!]]"

* PervertedSniffing: Repeatedly shown in the promos when Lecter does this and Graham asks, "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny Are you...sniffing me?]]"

** Freddie Lounds is mentioned in "Apéritif" by Crawford as a blogger who posted details of the Minnesota Shrike murders on tattlecrime.com. Then we get to see her [[NakedFirstImpression naked from the waist up]] in "Amuse-Bouche."

* NakedFirstImpression: We first see Freddie Lounds sitting naked on her chair while uploading a new page for her site.
* {{Paparazzi}}: Lounds is a particularly loathsome example, going beyond simple harassment and straight into flagrantly illegal territory in her pursuit of stories; she lies to the police, contaminates crime scenes, records a conversation between a psychiatrist and his patient, and it's made clear that she's gotten more than one cop fired.

* RaceLift: Jack Crawford, now played by Creator/LaurenceFishburne.

* EarlyBirdCameo: Fuller has said that some of the murders we will see are the early efforts of [[spoiler: [[Film/{{Manhunter}} Francis]] [[Literature/RedDragon Dolarhyde]].]]
** Freddie Lounds is mentioned in "Apéritif" by Crawford as a blogger who posted details of the Minnesota Shrike murders on tattlecrime.com.

** According to early interviews, Fuller has roughed out several years worth of plot, calling season one the "bromance" between Lecter and Graham, and season two "the ugly breakup", while season four is "basically Red Dragon".

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Reflecting Lecter's liking for fine food ([[ImAHumanitarian and the rude]]), all episodes are being named after French foods and culinary terms. Examples include "Aperitif" (the pilot), "Potage," "Oeuf," "Entree," etc.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Graham notes on the first crime scene we see that the killer "surgically" shot the man so that he bled out slowly enough to watch him attack his wife, and that the wife was shot through the neck ''missing'' all the major arteries so that she was paralysed but alive when the killer started to work on her. It should be noted that the first target was running down the stairs, and the second target's head was moving quite a bit, so clearly the killer was a damn good shot.

* {{Paparazzi}}: Lounds is a particularly loathsome example, going beyond simple harassment and straight into flagrantly illegal territory in her pursuit of stories; she lies to the police, contaminates crime scenes, records a conversation between a psychiatrist and his patient, and it's made clear that she's gotten more than one cop fired.

* RaceLift: Jack Crawford, now played by LaurenceFishburne.

* ShoutOut: The red toilet where Crawford talks to Graham is inspired by the one in [[http://fuckyeahannibal.tumblr.com/post/47416084529/critormiss-bryan-fuller-on-hannibals-shining The Shining]]

* RaceLift: Jack Crawford, now played by LawrenceFishburne.
* RealLifeRelative: Crawford's wife, Bella, will be played by Lawrence Fishburne's real-life wife, GinaTorres.

* ThePaparazzi: Lounds is a particularly loathsome example, going beyond simple harassment and straight into flagrantly illegal territory in her pursuit of stories; she lies to the police, contaminates crime scenes, records a conversation between a psychiatrist and his patient, and it's made clear that she's gotten more than one cop fired.

* ErmineCapeEffect: When we first meet Lechter in episode 1 he is dressed in a bright turquoise 3-piece suit, with gold-like window-pane stripes and with a gold-ish tie and shirt. Clearly, his psychiatrist's office is his kingdom. But when he goes to Jack Crawford's office to meet profiler Will Graham, he wisely camouflages himself and takes on the coloration of his environment, dressing in a dull brown and tan.

* FoodPorn: Hannibal Lecter prefers to cook his own meals, even the conventional ones, and he's a gourmet-level chef. Hence, all the food we see him prepare looks utterly delicious, be it roast beef, sausage and egg, or [[YouBastard human lungs]].

* Shoutout: The red toilet where Crawford talks to Graham is inspired by the one in [[http://fuckyeahannibal.tumblr.com/post/47416084529/critormiss-bryan-fuller-on-hannibals-shining The Shining]]

* ActorAllusion: Will boasts "You wouldn't like me when I'm psychoanalyzed", a reference to [[TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]]. In the film ''Film/RedDragon'', Will Graham is played by Creator/EdwardNorton, who later played Bruce Banner in ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk''.

* FoodPorn: Hannibal Lecter prefers to prepare his own meals, even the conventional ones, and he's a gourmet-level chef. Hence, all the food we see him prepare prepares looks utterly delicious, be it roast beef, sausage and egg, or [[YouBastard human lungs]].

* RaceLift: Jack Crawford, now played by LawrenceFishburne

* ContinuityReboot[=/=]{{Prequel}}: Intended to be a prequel in the sense of how Will and Hannibal first met up, the show is also a reboot since Freddie Lounds is now [[GenderFlip a woman named Fredricka,]] but is still a journalist - albeit a tabloid blogger.

* ActorAllusion: Will boasts "You wouldn't like me when I'm psychoanalyzed", a reference to TheHulk, a character once played by the actor who played Will in the film this series is based on.

* ImAHumanitarian: Dr. Hannibal Lecter, of course. Also the killer in the first episode.