After years of wait and speculations, it has been confirmed that Mindhunter will not be returning with another season. The disappointing update has been shared by the show’s creator and director, David Fincher.
Mindhunter premiered on Netflix in 2017, followed by its second season in 2019, after which the streaming platform announced that the series was going ‘on hold’ due to Fincher’s involvement in other projects. The director, however, has not revealed a different reason behind the show’s cancelation. Read on to find out.
Mindhunter Won’t Return with Season 3 on Netflix
In a recent interview with a French magazine, Fincher opened up about the fate of his critically acclaimed show and revealed that Netflix was not satisfied with the viewership numbers, considering the high budget that went into it, and hence decided to cancel the series.
“I’m very proud of the first two seasons. But 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. I don’t blame them, they took risks to get the show off the ground, gave me the means to do Mank the way I wanted to do it,” Fincher said.
“And they allowed me to venture down new paths with The Killer. It’s a blessing to be able to work with people who are capable of boldness. The day our desires are not the same, we have to be honest about parting ways,” he added.
Netflix Previously Put the Project on ‘Indefinite Hold’
Fans of the show had been waiting for its return for over three years since it was never officially canceled. While Netflix maintained that the project had gone on ‘indefinite hold,’ Fincher had expressed his interest in revisiting the show in the future.
“David is focused on directing his first Netflix film Mank and on producing the second season of Love, Death and Robots. He may revisit Mindhunter again in the future, but in the meantime felt it wasn’t fair to the actors to hold them from seeking other work while he was exploring new work of his own.” a Netflix rep said in a statement in 2020.
At the time, Fincher had stated, “At some point, I’d love to revisit it. The hope was to get all the way up to the late ’90s, and early 2000s, hopefully, get all the way up to people knocking on the door at Dennis Rader’s house.”
The Series Focussed on the Psyche of Serial Killers
Mindhunter followed FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), and psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv) on a research project to interview imprisoned serial killers to understand their psychology and utilize this knowledge on ongoing and future murder cases.
The series featured the characters of notorious serial killers of the late 1970s, including Cameron Britton as Edmund Kemper, Sam Strike as Montie Rissell, Happy Anderson as Jerry Brudos, and Jack Erdie as Richard Speck. Mindhunter has a 96% rating on rotten tomatoes, making it one of the highest psychological thriller shows.
What are your thoughts on the show’s cancelation? Tell us in the comments section.