Mindhunter creator contemplating bringing hit Netflix show back for new series

A Mindhunter fan can dream.

There is fresh hope that Netflix's cult thriller drama series Mindhunter could return to screens. Based on the true crime book of the same name, the show first premiered on Netflix in 2017 and followed two detectives (Holt McCallany and Jonathan Groff) in the early days of criminal profiling as they look into the psychology of killers. A second season was released on the streamer in 2019, with the series garnering a legion of devoted fans throughout its run. However, despite the show's glowing reception from critics and fans alike, plans for a third season were put on indefinite hold in 2020 by Netflix, with the streamer citing Mindhunter director, executive producer and showrunner David Fincher's other projects as the reason.

Mindhunter creator contemplating bringing hit Netflix show back for new series

In an interview with French outlet JDD early last year, however, Fincher put a damper on the idea of the series returning. Asked if there will be more Mindhunter, the producer responded:

"I'm very proud of the first two seasons. But it is a particularly expensive show and, in the eyes of Netflix, we did not attract a large enough audience to justify such an investment. "I don't blame them. They took risks to launch the series, gave me the means to do as I dreamed with Mank [his black and white movie set in Hollywood in the 1930s] and they allowed me to venture on new paths with The Killer [his latest crime thriller movie starring Michael Fassbender as a hitman]."

However, a recent interview with Mindhunter star McCallany has given fans a glimmer of hope that the show could come back. While the actor was speaking to Awards Daily about his role in new wrestling drama The Iron Claw, interviewer David Phillips told McCallany: "There is a huge subculture of Mindhunter fans... who have not given up on the idea that there could be a third season. We refuse to give up on it." In response, the actor said:

"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. It’s been a few years now, so it’s probably unlikely, but just even that he would think about it is a hopeful sign."

Also during the interview, McCallany said Mindhunter and his boxing drama series Lights Out are his "two favourite projects". He explained: "I loved making those shows, and I can only hope that at some point in my career, there’ll be something else that I feel as strongly about as I do about those two television series, because not all series are created equal. Let’s face it. Most of them are pretty forgettable. I don’t think you can say that about Mindhunter."

Jonathan Groff, Anna Torv and Holt McCallany in Mindhunter

Mindhunter's cancellation was particularly devastating for fans, given how great the plans for its season three sounded. Another one of the show's other directors, Andrew Dominik, said that main characters Holden Ford and Bill Tench were going to rub shoulders with real Hollywood stars as the series was apparently set to explore the making of classic serial killer films like Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs. "What they were going to do with season three was they were going to go [to] Hollywood," said Dominik.

"So one of them was going to be hooking up with Jonathan Demme [the director of The Silence of the Lambs] and the other one was going to be hooking up with Michael Mann [Manhunter]. "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 them to do, when they sort of get out of the basement and start."

At least those first two seasons of Mindhunter are still on Netflix. Read more:

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