Summary
Netflixis full of true crime content, with new documentaries and drama series dropping every week. However, there’s one true crime drama that was lauded by critics and fans alike, but hasn’t been given another season.Mindhunteroriginally landed on Netflix in 2017, and it was based on John Douglas and Mark Olshaker’s book of the same name. A second season followed in 2019, but despite speculation that a third season might be explored at some point, five years have passed by with no significant updates.
David Fincherproduced and directed multiple episodes of the true-crime series, but he has stated that the viewing figures for the series just weren’t strong enough to justify another season, taking into account the high production costs.It’s so frustrating, as there were so many plot threads left up in the air, and multiple stories still left on the table to explore from the book.
Mindhunter
Starring
Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv, Sonny Valicenti, Stacey Roca, Hannah Gross, Joe Tuttle and Cameron Britton
2
Created By
Joe Penhall and David Fincher
Low viewership and extremely high production costs were the reasons cited forMindhunternot moving forward with a third season on Netflix. It is surprising that it didn’t do better with people’s obsession with true crime content being a major factor in so many serial killer shows getting the go ahead.Ryan Murphy’sMonsteranthology serieshas been a major hit for Netflix after it originally aired back in 2022, so it’s quite possible another season ofMindhuntermight actually do quite well on the streamer.
Mindhunteris arguably a higher quality show than any of the Ryan Murphy-led true crime dramas out there, and it’s so disappointing it seems to be no more. Of course, a different streamer could potentially pick it up in the future, but it really does belong on Netflix. David Fincher has a continued relationship with Netflix, after they bankrolled his passion project,Mank, in 2020, and he doesn’t appear to be pushing back too much on the lack of interest in exploringMindhunterseason 3. In aninterview with Varietyin 2020, Fincher said:
I don’t know if it makes sense to continue. It was an expensive show. It had a very passionate audience, but we never got the numbers that justified the cost.
Netflix Should Bankroll At Least One More Season Of Mindhunter To Tie Up Some Loose Ends
There is definitely a demand from the fans to see the continuing FBI profiling adventures of Holden Ford and Bill Tench in a third season ofMindhunter,and despite the chances of another run being unlikely, there is still hope, witha petition gaining over 80,000 signatures. It still continues to grow each week, and its testament to the many intriguing plot points that were set up in season 2. A Netflix rep was quoted as saying ‘maybe in five years’ when asked ifMindhunterseason 3 would happen. Well, it’s been five years now, and still no sign of another season, so it’s not looking too promising for the show.However, David Fincher seems to go back and forward on whether he’d be interested in doing another season. In aninterview with Vulturein 2020, he said:
At some point, I’d love to revisit it. The hope was to get all the way up to the late 90s, early 2000s, hopefully, get all the way up to people knocking on the door at Dennis Rader’s house.
One of the biggest disappointments to come from the abrupt ending ofMindhunterin 2019, was the long-gestatingDennis ‘BTK’ Rader sub-plotthat didn’t pay off after such a tense and intriguing set up. It’s interesting that Fincher mentioned that it was the intention to eventually get to the early 2000s timeline in the show.So, maybe, there’s another season ofMindhunterin 20 years' time to wrap things up this way.Sure, it’s a long time to wait, but patience is a virtue. Also, John Douglas, the FBI agent who co-wrote theMindhunter book, and provided the inspiration for the character of Holden Ford, actually wrote a book about the capture of Dennis Rader calledInside The Mind of BTK: The True Story behind The 30-Year Hunt For The Wichita Serial Killer. The adaptation of this book would be the logical step to take for season 3 and a BTK-centric narrative to pay off the set-up in the first two seasons would be the perfect way to bow out.
The initial creative plans for a potentialMindhunterseason 3 were actually revealed by one of season 2’s directors, Andrew Dominik, in aninterview with Colliderback in 2022, and his comments are especially interesting in relation to the plot revelations forRyan Murphy’s upcomingMonsterseason 3:
What they were going to do with season three was they were going to go [to] Hollywood. So one of them was going to be hooking up with Jonathan Demme and the other one was going to be hooking up with Michael Mann. And it was all going to be about profiling making it into the sort of zeitgeist, the public consciousness. That was the season everyone was really waiting for to do, with when they sort of get out of the basement and start.
This idea would’ve worked very well forMindhunterseason 3, and it feels likeMonsterseason 3 is going to do some variation on this with theirTrue crime meets Hollywood origin story, involving Ed Gein and Alfred Hitchcock.
