David Fincher’sMindhunterdebuted on Netflix in 2017 and was followed by a second season two years later. While a potential third season was puton indefinite hold in early 2020, Fincher has now indicated that the series is unlikely to return due to a combination of costs and the time-consuming schedule.
Based on the bookMindhunter:Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unitby retired FBI agent John E. Douglas, the series centers on agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench as they work with psychologist Wendy Carr in the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit during the early development of criminal profiling. While the three-main characters are loosely based on real-life figures, true events such as the Atlanta murders of 1979 to 1981 and infamous serial killers, including Ed Kemper, are depicted over the course of the series. In addition to serving as an executive producer, Fincher directed seven of the nineteen episodes produced to date, with production taking place primarily in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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During an interview with Vulture, the future ofMindhunterwas raised and Fincher seemed to close the door on the possibility of a third season, noting thatthe production scheduleconsumed a lot of his time. “We lived there for almost three years,” he said. “Not year in and year out, but … probably six or seven months a year …Mindhunterwas a lot for me.”
Fincher explained that at the beginning of the second season, he was dissatisfied with the writing and decided to start over again, later promoting assistant director Courtenay Miles to help co-run the series. The experience seemingly drained a lot of energy from Fincher, who said, “it’s a 90-hour workweek. It absorbs everything in your life. When I got done, I was pretty exhausted, and I said, ‘I don’t know if I have it in me right now to break season three.'” His conversation with Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos and Cindy Holland, then the VP for original content at the company, resulted in Fincher tacklingMankas his next feature.
Mank, which depicts the tumultuous relationship between writer Herman J. Mankiewicz and director Orson Welles during the production ofCitizen Kane, is scheduled to premiere onthe streaming servicein December 2020. However, Fincher suggested the viewership ofMindhuntercompared to the cost of producing the series means it is unlikely that he and Netflix will head directly into the third season. “Listen, for the viewership that it had, it was a very expensive show,” he explained. “We talked about, ‘FinishMankand then see how you feel,’ but I honestly don’t think we’re going to be able to do it for less than I did season two. And on some level, you have to be realistic — dollars have to equal eyeballs.” A spokesperson for Netflix confirmed the third season ofMindhunteris not being planned at this time and indicated if it were to ever happen, it would be years down the line, saying, “maybe in five years.”
WhileMindhunter’s fate appears to be sealed, Netflix has no shortage of crime shows to offer fans of Fincher’s psychological thriller. Of course, many of these offerings are true crime documentaries, includingthe reboot ofUnsolved Mysteriesand the feature film from director Jenny Popplewell titledAmerican Murder: The Family Next Door.
Even if Netflix and Fincher decided to move forward with the third season ofMindhunter, the series might have had to accommodate the schedule of Jonathan Groff, who portrays agent Ford.The actor is set to appear inThe Matrix 4, which is still in the midst of production due to the delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.
