Bryan Fuller’s short-lived NBC series, Hannibal, sparked numerous inquiries about Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and whether his unique abilities point to him having Asperger syndrome or being seated somewhere on the autism spectrum — here’s why this likely isn’t the case.
Hannibal adapts iconic characters from Thomas Harris’ novels, such as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Jack Crawford, Will Graham, and others familiar to not only Jonathan Demme’s 1991 film adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs, but also other books in the series. Though NBC’s Hannibal never saw the cannibalistic Dr. Lecter square off with Agent Clarice Starling, he instead found a foil in FBI Agent Will Graham, who plays a very different role in NBC’s show, and even hints at a romantic relationship between the two men as their stories develop. However, early on in Hannibal season 1, it’s often suggested—and sometimes even exhaustively so—that Will is valuable not only to the FBI, but to Dr. Lecter himself, because he has a unique ability to not only envision what happened at a crime scene just by looking at it, but is sensitive to serial killers in a different way than other agents. It’s posited almost as some sort of extra-sensory ability, which has led to the ongoing discussion that Will might be on the spectrum.
Both Bryan Fuller and Hugh Dancy have commented on Will being on the spectrum, as there are several references to it in the series. For one, Will states that he’s “closer to” being autistic or having Asperger’s than he would be to being a sociopath or psychopath: ie, the people he hunts. Neither Fuller nor Dancy have definitively stated that he does, in fact, have Asperger syndrome; they have both refuted this claim. However, it does posit an interesting discussion about representation—which is always important in media—and what it could mean for a character like Will Graham to be autistic.
Why Will Graham Likely Isn’t On The Autism Spectrum
Other shows, such as The Good Doctor and Atypical have explored main characters on the spectrum. Despite this visibility shedding light on the real lives of people on the spectrum, fictionalized depictions often open themselves up for harsh criticism, particularly since so many of these depictions focus on people with autism as being highly intelligent (read: savant syndrome), but often socially inept, moody, or otherwise emotionally difficult. For Will’s character in Hannibal, him being on the spectrum could open up to even more harsh commentary on people with Asperger’s being more easy to manipulate or victimize, or even possessing an innate darkness, which makes the likelihood that he isn’t on the spectrum more positive by default.
Throughout the existing three seasons of Hannibal, which aired its final season in 2015, Will is shown to have unpredictable, but intense emotions. While it’s important to note that autism is a spectrum, and as such, not every person who is diagnosed will fit a specific, conclusive span of criteria, many people with Asperger’s experience minimal, or even muted emotions. Asperger syndrome (ASD) is categorized by difficulties in social interaction, oftentimes interpersonal relationships, and can also manifest in a completely nonverbal person. While Will does have markers of ASD, including his obsessive preoccupation with his career and serial killers, there’s little else about his character that would suggest a proper diagnosis could be made. In fact, Dancy has stated that perhaps Will mimics behaviors that can be attributed to ASD and the autism spectrum, presumably because he’s anti-social.
Will can be seen “masking”, which is a behavior used as a coping mechanism for some people on the spectrum, where they show different sides of themselves to different people, usually based on comfort. Will does interact with people differently, such as his relationship with Dr. Lecter vs. Jack Crawford vs. his various romantic interests and even a borderline paternal relationship with Abigail Hobbs, all of which he seemed to develop without difficulty. Canonically speaking, Will is not on the spectrum in Hannibal or the books — if anything, his abilities can be attributed to him being able to empathize with serial killers too well, which is part of why Dr. Lecter takes an interest in him in the first place.
