Posted in: Netflix, streaming, TV | Tagged: david fincher, mindhunter, netflix, season 3

Mindhunter: David Fincher on Costs/Viewing Numbers Killing Season 3

Speaking with a French journal, Netflix series creator David Fincher offered some insight into why there won't be Mindhunter Season 3.

In August 2023, it will have been four years since the second season of writer & EP David Fincher's Netflix series Mindhunter graced our screens. And over that time, there has been a ton of speculation over whether or not a third season of the Jonathan Groff (F.B.I. Agent Holden Ford) & Holt McCallany (Agent Bill Tench)-starring series was in the cards. Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't. Sometimes, "sources" said Fincher wanted to start soon on a new season – while other "sources" claimed the filmmaker was much too busy with other projects. Well, assuming the translation that's being reported is accurate (so stay tuned, just in case), Fincher is putting to rest any Season 3 talk (again) in an interview with French magazine Le Journal du Dimanche.

"I'm very proud of the first two seasons. But it's a very expensive show and, in the eyes of Netflix, we didn't attract enough of an audience to justify such an investment," Fincher shared when the topic of the streaming series was first brought up. And though it sounds like it was Netflix who pulled the plug more than the filmmaker, Fincher doesn't seem to hold any grudges. "I don't blame them, they took risks to get the show off the ground, gave me the means to do Mank the way I wanted to do it, and they allowed me to venture down new paths with 'The Killer.' It's a blessing to be able to work with people who are capable of boldness. The day our desires are not the same, we have to be honest about parting ways."

Netflix's Mindhunter: The Long & Winding Road to ???

While the season finale left the door open for a third season, in January 2020 Netflix let the options on the series' cast lapse though the streamer wouldn't close the door entirely on a new season: "David [Fincher] is focused on directing his first Netflix film 'Mank' and on producing the second season of 'Love, Death and Robots.' 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," said a Netflix rep in a statement at the time. Since that time, even series cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt (who also worked on Mank) was in the dark about what the future held for the acclaimed series.

Fincher drove home the point later that year during an interview with Variety in support of Mank: if Mindhunter does come back, it won't be any time soon. "I don't know if it makes sense to continue. It was an expensive show. It had a very passionate audience, but we never got the numbers that justified the cost," Fincher explained, adding that he also needed a break from the series. "I certainly needed some time away. We had all hands on deck to finish [season two] and we didn't have a ton of scripts and a ton of outlines and a bible standing by for season three. I'll admit I was a little bit like 'I don't know that I'm ready to spend another two years in the crawl space."

That said, Fincher knows the direction the series would go if he does revisit that universe- the narrative endgame that's been layered in over two seasons. "The hope was to get all the way up to the late '90s, early 2000s, hopefully, get all the way up to people knocking on the door at Dennis Rader's [BTK Killer] house," Fincher revealed. Between 1974 and 1991 and eventually, arrested in 2005, the BTK Killer would ill 10 people in Wichita and Park City, Kansas- taunting police by sending letters offering graphic, detailed descriptions of his crimes.

And then, in December 2021, during a major press tour for The Matrix Resurrections, Groff revealed how he felt when he learned Fincher would be taking an indefinite break from the series as well as if he & the cast would return if Fincher came calling. "[Laughs] You know what? To me, 'Mindhunter' is Fincher. The whole experience for me was the honor and privilege of getting to work with him. This was the main draw for me. This was the main joy of getting to have that experience. So I'm not a sports person really at all, but it's like the [1997-1998] Chicago Bulls. Do you go for another season with the team? Or do you just do what the general manager says? But if the general manager believes that it should stop, you have to go with the general manager. And this is how I feel with David. The minute he says he wants to do another one, I'll be there in a second. But I trust his vision and his instincts, and so I leave it always in his hands, as ever," Groff shared. "There's such a reverence for Fincher. I can't imagine that every single person wouldn't jump at the opportunity to go back."

And then, in April 2022, Groff stopped by NBC's The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to discuss his reuniting with the original cast and band for a Spring Awakening reunion concert and to discuss the Spring Awakening: Those You've Known documentary. But at one point, Jimmy Fallon asked Groff if there was a better chance of seeing a third season of Fincher's series or a third chapter in the animated Frozen franchise. And surprisingly (though not going into details beyond his response), Groff responded by saying that they are "equally possible."

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