“It was a gamble, an expensive series”: David Fincher Blames Crazy Production Cost of Mindhunter For Netflix Canceling the Show
Created by Joe Penhall, Mindhunter is a psychological thriller series based on the 1995 true crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The series debuted in 2017 with the second season premiering in 2019. David Fincher, Charlize Theron, and Joe Penhall serve as the executive producers of the show with David Fincher serving as the most frequent director and de facto showrunner.
The show’s first season premiered on Netflix with ten episodes and quickly managed to impress the audience. Mindhunter quickly became one of the best TV shows of all time, receiving acclaim from both audiences as well as the critics. David Fincher talks about the reason that led to a disappointing decision for the future of the series. Let’s find out.
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David Fincher explains the reason for Mindhunter not returning for Season 3
With two successful and critically acclaimed seasons of Mindhunter, fans expected the series to come back for season three. In 2020, Netflix announced that season three of Mindhunter was on hold, as David Fincher wanted to pursue other projects but may revisit the series in the future. But that might not be the case.
In an interview with the French Magazine Le Journal du Dimanche, the director of the show once again discussed the reason the show is not returning for season three. He said,
“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 noted that he does not blame anyone for the fan-favorite series not returning for season three, adding that they took risks to get the show on-air. He expressed his gratitude for the people he was able to work with mentioning that they were the ones with boldness with clarifying that they had to be honest about parting ways.
Actors Jonathan Groff, Anna Torv, and Holt McCallany were released from their contracts after season two. The reason cited by Netflix at the time was that Fincher ‘might’ return for season three but he doesn’t feel it’s right for them to keep holding the actors from seeking other work while he explored new work of his own.
David Fincher admits making Mindhunte was a ‘gamble’
Fincher, in his interview with the French Magazine, was asked about his other collaboration with Netflix, to which he admitted that working on House of Cards wasn’t a risk compared to Mindhunter. He said,
“We couldn’t complete the trajectory, but it was a gamble. An expensive series too. Very expensive. We went far as far as we could until somebody finally said to us; it makes no sense to produce the series like this, unless you can reduce the budget, or make it pop, so that people will watch it.”
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David Fincher admits that where they understood the advice from people, they didn’t want to change their approach, which is what they told them, and they informed the team that they were drawing a line under it. The executive producer of the show noted that he always takes a step different from what is expected of him. Otherwise, he is no longer interested.
Season 1 & 2 of Mindhunter is streaming on Netflix.
