'Hannibal': Pulled episode 'Ceuf' now on iTunes

Having an old friend for dinner tonight? Consider this an appetizer: The fourth episode of Hannibal, which was pulled by NBC due to its especially gruesome storyline, is now available to view in its entirety. Series creator Bryan Fuller broke the news on his Twitter account today:

The episode — called "Ceuf" — focuses on a group of children who have been abducted and brainwashed into killing their old families. It was filmed before the shooting at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School last December. Nevertheless, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, the network balked at the episode's plot and some of its imagery last week. Instead of airing the episode, NBC chose to bump Hannibal's fifth episode up and repurpose "Ceuf" as a web series.

Altogether, that series of clips featured the entire episode, minus only some particularly grisly images. The episode available for purchase on iTunes, though, is the original, unbowdlerized — or should we say "cannibalized?" — "Ceuf."

Preview Hannibal's quasi-lost episode by watching the first part of the web-series version below.

Hannibal airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.

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