So who should we believe here? For years, “Mindhunter” fans have been given one fairly straightforward explanation for why David Fincher’s acclaimed Netflix series never made it to a third season: the show was simply too expensive for the audience it attracted.
The series, which chronicled the FBI’s early efforts to understand and profile serial killers, premiered in 2017 and returned for its second season in August 2019. Fincher’s DNA was all over the show, and he went on to direct 8 of the 19 episodes, with Carl Franklin, Andrew Dominik and Tobias Lindholm splitting directorial duties on the others.
Back in 2023, while being interviewed by a French outlet, Fincher said he was “very proud” of the first two seasons but pointed the finger squarely at Netflix for not greenlighting a third season. The series, he explained, was “too expensive” for Netflix, and in their view, simply wasn’t attracting enough viewers to justify continuing the investment.
That explanation understandably left fans blaming Netflix. After all, if the streamer had decided that “Mindhunter” wasn’t worth the money, what could Fincher realistically do? Except now Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos appears to be telling a rather different story. He’s laying the blame squarely on Fincher.
Speaking at a panel hosted by The Indian Express, Sarandos was asked about a sequel or continuation of a series that he wished had been made. His answer was immediate: “Mindhunter.” However, his explanation for what happened is strikingly different from the one Fincher gave. According to Sarandos, Netflix had always anticipated a third season. The problem was Fincher himself:
It’s not a part two, it’s a part three that I wish we would’ve got to. ‘Mindhunter’, David Fincher’s series on Netflix that… we always anticipated there would be a third season, and he got very busy making a film, and David is an unbelievably meticulous creator, so he couldn’t just do two things at the same time, and he certainly didn’t want to shortchange either one. So it got pushed off and pushed off and, I would’ve loved to have seen a third season of ‘Mindhunter'
That is a very different version of events. And it raises the obvious question: who is telling the truth here? Sarandos or Fincher?
“Mindhunter” played like primo Fincher. From the cinematography to the atmosphere and, really, the entire feel of the series, it’s one of the best shows the streamer has produced in its relatively short existence. It’s gotten to the point where a massive cult following has built up over the last few years. There have even been fan petitions circulating to convince Netflix to bring it back. Maybe those fan petitions should have been directed at Fincher instead.
That being said, I will leave you with some optimism. The third season might not be happening, but according to one of its stars, Holt McCallany, Fincher is tempted to bring back “Mindhunter” as a trilogy of two-hour movies. McCallany mentioned this in 2025 — no update since.
I briefly mentioned Ben Affleck's "Animals" yesterday, but I need to get more into it, because this thing, now streaming on Netflix, is one of the most baffling efforts I've seen from a serious director in a long time.