Pop Culture

David Fincher Confirms Mindhunter Is Probably Done

David Fincher’s critically acclaimed Netflix series Mindhunter is unlikely to return for a third season, the filmmaker confirmed in a new interview.

“Listen, for the viewership that it had, it was a very expensive show,” Fincher said to Vulture in a new interview about his forthcoming Netflix drama Mank. “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 [money] than I did season two. And on some level, you have to be realistic—dollars have to equal eyeballs.”

Based on the book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker, the Netflix series launched in 2017. Fincher directed multiple episodes across the show’s two seasons and served as a de facto showrunner as well. (Other directors to work on the series included The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford filmmaker Andrew Dominik and Devil in a Blue Dress director Carl Franklin.) Mindhunter starred Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany as FBI agents and Anna Torv as a criminal psychologist; it focused on the trio’s work interviewing serial killers to have a better understanding of the crimes they committed. The real-life murderers and cases featured on the series included Ed Kemper, Charles Manson, and the Atlanta child murders.

“It’s a 90-hour workweek. It absorbs everything in your life,” Fincher said of producing the show, which was shot in Pittsburgh and kept him living in the city for what he estimated was six or seven months every year. “When I got done, I was pretty exhausted, and I said, ‘I don’t know if I have it in me right now to break season three.’”

While fans of Mindhunter are likely disappointed by the news of its probable demise, the writing has been on the wall for months. In January, Deadline reported the cast’s options for season three had elapsed, putting the series in an indefinite hiatus.

“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 at the time. “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.”

Speaking now, a representative for Netflix gave Vulture a little more clarification on when Fincher could possibly revisit the show again. “Maybe in five years,” the rep said. Fingers crossed.

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