Mindhunter fans have long given up hope for a new season, but Netflix’s bold new claim about why the show ended might renew anticipation.
Since the crime drama ended in August 2019, it has generated a legendary status among TV viewers who regularly hail it, alongside The OA, as the best series the streaming service released.
Netflix has faced criticism over the years for cancelling Mindhunter, with creator David Fincher stating in 2023: “It’s a very expensive show and, in the eyes of Netflix, we didn’t attract enough of an audience to justify such an investment.”
open image in galleryHowever, co-CEO Ted Sarandos has now alleged that he’d have loved to bring Mindhunter back for a third season – and even expected Fincher to make more episodes.
When asked at an event hosted by The Indian Express whether there was a sequel he wished Netflix had produced, he replied, as per Collider: “It’s not a part two, it’s a part three that I wish we got to make: Mindhunter, David Fincher’s series on Netflix.”
He continued: “We always anticipated there would be a third season, and he got very busy making a film. And David is an unbelievably meticulous creator, so he couldn’t do two things at the same time, and he certainly didn’t want to short-change either one.”
Sarandos said that Fincher’s duties on Mank, which was also released on Netflix, meant a third season “got pushed off and pushed off”. But he said: “I would have loved to have seen a third season of Mindhunter.”
This changes the narrative surrounding Mindhunter’s fate in a big way, considering Fincher always attributed growing budgets as the number one reason why it never came back. The Independent has contacted Fincher for comment.
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In a 2023 interview with Vulture, Fincher called the show’s production “gruelling and time-consuming”, adding: “Listen, for the viewership that it had, it was an expensive show. We talked about ‘Finish Mank and 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 about dollars have to equal eyeballs.”
But, in 2024, Holt McCallany, who played FBI Agent Bill Tench in the drama, suggested Fincher was considering attempting to resurrect it.
He told Awards Daily: “I’ve heard that David’s thought about it. I’m not saying it’s going to come back, but what I am saying is that if it comes back, I’m coming back with it. You can take that to the bank, but it’ll depend on what David wants to do.
While the actor acknowledged the fact that a third season is “probably unlikely” as “it’s been a few years now”, he added: “But just even that he would think about it is a hopeful sign.”
Mindhunter follows two FBI agents (played by Jonathan Groff and McCallany) and a psychologist (Anna Torv) who launch a research project to profile serial killers in order to understand them better.
Fincher’s working relationship with Netflix has continued thanks to the films Mank and The Killer – and his next film, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, will be released on the service in November. It’s a sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, focused on the character played by Brad Pitt.