It’s been five months since Season 2 of Mindhunter launched on Netflix. There has been no movement on part of the streamer regarding a potential third season of the David Fincher crime thriller drama. Last month, Netflix let the options of the cast, led by stars Holt McCallany and Jonathan Groff, lapse, further raising the possibility that we may have seen the last of Mindhunter.
That is not entirely the case, the network said to Deadline while confirming that the cast of Mindhunter have been released.
“David is focused on directing his first Netflix film Mank and on producing the second season of Love, Death and Robots,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”
Fincher indeed has in the works at Netflix feature Mank, which is a personal project for him. He is directing the film, about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his battles with director Orson Welles over screenplay credit for Citizen Kane, from a script written by his father Jack.
Love, Death and Robots, which Fincher executive produces, also is a long-time passion project for him, a reboot of the 1981 animated science fiction film Heavy Metal. The series is now in production on its second season.
It is unclear whether there a third season of Mindhunter is feasible. According to sources, the cast have loved working with Fincher and most if not all would be willing to come back for another season of but they may be tied to another series.
There has been chatter that Fincher was not particularly thrilled to do another lengthy location shoot (Mindhunter films in Pittsburgh) and was looking to raise the series’ production value with a bigger budget.
But I hear there has been no meaningful communication between Netflix, the director and the cast about a third season.
Mindhunter got off to an OK start. While Netflix does not release viewership information, the show’s name popped up on several binge reports. The second season had a quieter run.
Netflix bases its renewal decisions on analyzing a series’ viewership profile and awards recognition. While not a brand-defining hit, Mindhunter has developed a following, which combined with Fincher’s statute at Netflix, likely contributed to the streamer’s decision to leave the door open for a potential third season.
Fincher helped put Netflix on the original programming map by setting up his drama House Of Cards there as the first homegrown Netflix original series.
Created by Joe Penhall, Mindhunter is based on the true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit written by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker.