There may be too much TV, but one of the best crime thrillers of recent years deserved to have a proper ending. While crime dramas such as The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad once had a clear path to icon status, the sheer glut of choice in the streaming era makes it difficult for something truly great to stand out amongst the rest.
However, Netflix’s Mindhunter managed to accomplish just that. Executive produced by the renowned David Fincher, who also directed seven of the show’s 19 episodes, Mindhunter centered on FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), who, alongside psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv), operate the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit in the 1970s. They initiate a program in which they interview serial killers to better understand their psychological makeup, pioneering what is known today as criminal profiling.
With Fincher’s cinematic flair and a focus on character development and psychological thrills over cheap violence and gore, Mindhunter was a hit with critics, earning an impressive 96% on Rotten Tomatoes when the series premiered in 2017. A second season followed in 2019, this time scoring an even better 99%. However, despite its acclaim and the whisperings of a potential Mindhunter season 3, it never materialized — which is a major missed opportunity.
Why Mindhunter Season 3 Should Have Happened
Mindhunter is based on the 1995 true crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker, and as such, the show sees Ford and Tench interacting with real serial killers. Season 1 largely focused on Edmund Kemper (Cameron Britton), the first killer in the agents’ new project, while season 2 centered on the investigation of the Atlanta child murders and also featured Charles Manson (Damon Herriman).
Season 3 would have continued this trend, with the BTK Killer serving as the season’s focal point. Not only was he set up as such in the haunting moments of Mindhunter‘s season 2 finale, but Ford and Tench had begun tracking him all the way back in season 1. Without a third season, there’s no payoff to what could have been the most gripping storyline of the entire show.
Tench’s increasingly tumultuous home life also ended on a cliffhanger. Earlier in season 2, his adopted son Brian (Zachary Scott Ross) was involved in a horrific crime, causing a rift between Tench and his wife, Nancy (Stacey Roca). With Nancy leaving Tench in the season 2 finale, it begged the question of what would happen to their family and if Brian’s disturbing behavior would escalate. As it stands, we’ll never know.
Why Netflix Canceled Mindhunter After Season 2
With such critical acclaim, on paper it seemed like Mindhunter season 3 should have been a sure thing. Though the show wasn’t canceled outright immediately, the third season was put on hold indefinitely in 2020, with Fincher finally confirming that the show was officially over in 2023.
The reason for Mindhunter‘s cancellation was simple: money. Set in the 1970s and ’80s, Mindhunter is a period show, which will always be inevitably more expensive to make than contemporary series due to time-specific sets and costumes. While this isn’t much of a concern for shows like Stranger Things, which draw in massive viewership numbers, Mindhunter is a much artsier, more experimental show. Though its fanbase was devoted, it simply wasn’t big enough to justify Mindhunter‘s high production costs.
What’s so frustrating about this is that Netflix isn’t likely to take another chance on a series like Mindhunter again. Mindhunter premiered in 2017, at a time when the streaming wars were being waged on the basis of who had the highest quality series. Now, it’s all about profits and subscription numbers, which means greenlighting safe, by-the-numbers content. Sadly, Mindhunter does not fit that bill.
- Release Date
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2017 – 2019
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Joe Penhall
