Entertainment

She's Back on 'Hannibal' & We're Worried

by Keertana Sastry

We still have a few questions left unanswered as the Hannibal Season 2 finale airs Friday even after all the bloody, crazy and fascinating moments throughout this amazing sophomore season. The biggest and most unnerving of questions has to be whether or not Jack Crawford dies in the gruesome fight he has with Hannibal Lecter. You know, the one we were teased with in the opening scenes of the Season 2 premiere? There's also the looming doubt over whether Hannibal will finally be caught as the Chesapeake Ripper.

We've gotten a lot of hints and frustrating half comments about what to expect from Friday's finale from creator Bryan Fuller, but there is one piece of information about the finale that's rather striking: Cynthia Nixon is returning to her role as Kade Prurnell, an employee of the Office of the Inspector General in FBI Oversight. If you remember from earlier this season, Kade Prurnell was investigating Jack's responsibility after Will is taken into custody for the Chesapeake Ripper's crimes. Does her return give us information about the finale we're so desperately craving? Could her return spell trouble or relief? We have a few theories:

1. Hannibal Has Been Caught

The reemergence of Prurnell could mean that Jack and Will's plan to catch Hannibal red-handed is a success and now Prurnell has returned to start a new investigation into Hannibal and Jack since Jack allowed Hannibal to assist on investigations of murders he himself committed. Basically her reason for return would be the same as her reason for appearing in the show in the first place, but just replace Will with Hannibal as the defendant in question.

2. Hannibal Has Escaped

Perhaps on the more depressing note, Hannibal is caught as the killer but then escapes— as he is prone to doing in the later novels— which would require Prurnell to come back and investigate Jack some more since the escape would have happened on his watch. Also, fighting with her suspect rather than just bringing in a SWAT team to arrest him? That's got to be against some kind of FBI code of conduct.

3. Will Is In Trouble

An even more depressing theory is that Will decide to go against his loyalties toward Jack and help Hannibal escape the clutches of the FBI. Prurnell would definitely have to return to at the very least reprimand Jack for liaising with two people who lied to him and betrayed him.

4. Jack Has Died

The most depressing theory of all. I'm not happy to talk about this one but here we go: In the fight between Hannibal and Jack, Jack dies. Guys, did you see the gaping wound Hannibal put in Jack's neck? It's the most probable outcome. If Jack dies, perhaps the FBI would bring Prurnell back to the action to potentially step in while the bureau fills Jack's position and to investigate his death and the people responsible. Those people would obviously include Hannibal and Will but also Alanna and the CSI team.

5. None Of The Above

Or we're grasping at straws and Prurnell's returns only to further investigate any potential wrongdoings by Jack after the murder of Beverly Katz, the actual murder committed by Will and possibly to announce the end of her previous investigation into Jack. Her return in the season finale could also just be the start of her arc on the series. Bryan Fuller has said that Prurnell's name is an anagram for another character from the novels, Paul Krendler, but that he could not get the rights to the name or character. In the original novels, Krendler is a corrupt Justice Department official who is hellbent on destroying Clarice Starling's career. So maybe we'll be seeing much more of Kade Prurnell in Season 3 and beyond?

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