In Hannibal season 2 episode 4, Beverly Katz discovers Lecter's basement and sees something shocking offscreen, but the series never revealed what she saw. Created by Bryan Fuller, Hannibal stars Hugh Dancy as Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen as the serial killer, Hannibal Lecter. In seasons 1 and 2, Hettienne Park played FBI agent Beverly Katz, who was killed off and displayed in a Damien Hirst-style installation by Lecter in the TV show’s second season.
By the end of Hannibal season 1, Will Graham has been taken into custody for the murder of Abigail Hobbs. In season 2, Katz continues to seek Graham’s assistance in her investigations while he is incarcerated. In return, she agrees to look into Graham’s case and his possible innocence. In Hannibal season 2, episode 4, hoping to clear Graham’s name, Katz goes searching for evidence in Lecter’s home and eventually stumbles upon the basement where she makes a shocking discovery. Here’s what Katz saw in Lecter's basement just before her death.
In the Hannibal season 2 finale, Hobbs is revealed to be alive. It's presumed that Hobbs had been held captive by Lecter in the serial killer's home, leading to speculation that Katz’s discovery in the basement was Hobbs - alive. But the show never confirmed this fact on-screen. Fans were stumped by the ambiguity behind this element of the plot. And, as it turns out, there was a good reason why this part of the story seemed to have gone unresolved by the horror series.
When Hannibal revealed that Hobbs was still alive, the show never actually went back to connect that final scene before Katz's controversial death to the fact that she had uncovered the truth about Hobbs. Instead, the series left it up to the audience to interpret the events based on the revelation that Lecter had been hiding Hobbs in his home. But that didn’t stop fans from continuing to ask for confirmation. In 2014, showrunner Bryan Fuller finally confirmed via Twitter that it was the presumed dead Hobbs who Katz had seen, as many fans had already theorized and suspected. Fuller explained that a flashback to reveal this part of the story later in the season was ultimately left out, leading to all of the confusion regarding this final scene in Hannibal season 2 episode 4.
Part of what makes this scene so terrifying is that viewers can't see what Katz sees, only her reaction to the revelation. The pure shock and terror depicted on her face, without the knowledge of what scared her, leaves the audience to question what horrible discovery could have created such a response. This is the brilliance of that moment and speaks to both the high-quality writing and acting fans of Hannibal have come to appreciate about the TV show.