'Mindhunter' Season 3 May Never Happen as David Fischer Pursues Other Projects

Mindhunter is one of the most critically successful shows that Netflix has ever created. It comes from director David Fincher, who’s made movies like Fight Club, The Social Network, and Gone Girl over the course of his career in Hollywood. He also had a hand in adapting House of Cards for Netflix. Now that the series has aired two seasons, many are wondering whether a third is coming any time soon. 

Mindhunter is loosely based on a true story about the early days of the Behavioral Science unit inside the FBI. The show follows a pair of FBI agents and a psychologist as they start the unit, and begin interviewing famous serial killers in the 1970s. The show is known for its gripping performances, fascinating interview sequences, and its detailed approach to the real killers it portrays. 

Following the premiere of the show’s second season, there were many fans who were eager to see how the show would continue to progress. Throughout the first two seasons, the show had been teasing the story of the BTK killer, who was not apprehended in real life until decades after the events that the show is depicting. Given that timeline, some were curious exactly how the show would evolve. 

At the moment, though, there’s no third season in the works, and it may be some time before we get one. Not only is production on most of TV on hold as a result of the coronavirus, most of the show’s major creative players have moved on to other projects. David has shifted back to the world of movies, and the show’s principal actors have all been released from their contracts. 

Mindhunter has not been renewed for a third season, but Netflix also hasn’t announced that the show is officially canceled. Instead, it’s living in limbo, hovering in between the two. Fans should hold out some hope that the show might return, but it may not be any time soon. 

A spokesperson for Netflix told Entertainment Weekly that Mindhunter may live in limbo for a while. “He [Fincher] 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,” the spokesperson said. Previously, David had said that he had five seasons of the show planned. 

Holt McCallany, one of the show’s principal actors, once told The Hollywood Reporter about the director’s initial plans for the series. “He said ‘Listen, are you ready to do this for five seasons? Because even if I f---k it up, it's gonna go five seasons, and I don't intend to f---k it up.’ So I'd like to think that we will continue, for as long as David is intrigued by telling this particular story,” Holy said.

Now that everyone is moving on, it’s not clear whether that’s still the plan. For fans of the show, they’re likely hoping that, at some point, we’ll get to see the end of that plan.