Netflix’s biggest crime wasn’t letting Henry Cavill walk away from The Witcher; flooding the service with mediocre reality television; or even cracking down on the time-honoured tradition of password sharing. It was scrapping Mindhunter before the release of a long-awaited third season — hence why there’s now a Change.org petition with over 60,000 loyal fans “clamouring” for the masterfully-crafted psychological crime drama’s revival.
“We have watched, rewatched, and binge-watched… we have dedicated hours to discussing our favourite scenes and characters, marvelling at your brilliance, your attention to the minute details,” wrote the petition’s creator Dawn Bruner; who addresses creator Joe Penhall, director and executive producer David Fincher, as well as yet another executive producer Charlize Theron.
“So we are understandably disappointed and upset at the decision to put season 3 off indefinitely while Mr David Fincher works on other projects. We understand, you value those projects, and we feel the same about our Mindhunter.”
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“Please believe, even if the numbers didn’t add up in season 2 as they did for the first season — we are still out here waiting faithfully and clamouring for more… Please don’t let such a brilliant series die because we know, without doubt, this show/series has the potential to be Netflix most successful and popular ever.”
Despite the spirited sentiment behind this petition, which you can rally around via this link, the last remaining flames of our collective hope for Mindhunter season 3 has long flickered out thanks to the winds of Hollywood economics.
Earlier this year, during an interview with French publication Le Journal du Dimanche (via AVClub), David Fincher spelled out the show’s fate in a painfully unambiguous fashion.
In contradiction to a Netflix spokesperson’s previous claim that the streaming service “may revisit Mindhunter again in the future” shortly after the cast was released from their contracts circa 2020, here’s what Fincher 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.”
But considering Netflix offered the Fight Club, The Social Network, and Gone Girl filmmaker a four-year exclusive deal, you can certainly understand why he isn’t too cut up about it.
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Fincher added: “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.”
David Fincher’s next project currently being produced under the Netflix banner is, as outlined above, The Killer — based on the French graphic novel of the name by Alexis Nolent; starring Michael Fassbender, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sophie Charlotte, Tilda Swinton — which is scheduled to premiere later this year on November 10th, 2023.
Check out the synopsis below:
Solitary, cold, methodical and unencumbered by scruples or regrets, a killer (Michael Fassbender) waits in the shadows, watching for his next target. Yet, the longer he waits, the more he thinks he’s losing his mind, if not his cool.
