One of the best detective shows to ever come to Netflix, or anywhere for that matter,Mindhunter, was canceled unceremoniously despite having a 97% onRotten Tomatoes. Even over ten years after Netflix debuted its first original series withHouse of Cards, thestreamer continues to produce fantastic original shows.
However, over time, Netflix has come to be known for something else, something not nearly as positive as being a one-stop shop for original movies and TV shows and a large library of classics.Netflix has a bad habit of canceling TV showsway too soon, sometimes after only one season.
It’s not that every show needs to be given a chance to see multiple seasons, but all too often, a series is gaining traction, or is critically acclaimed, but without the fan support, and the series is prematurely canned. It’s a process that leads to a lot of great, but frustratingly unfinished projects in Netflix’s library.
Despite Its Cancellation, Mindhunter Is The Best Detective Show On Netflix
And One Of The Best Crime Drama Series Ever
Despite being canceled after two seasons,Mindhunterremains the best detective show on Netflix and one of the best crime drama series ever. Imagine how it would be if it didn’t end so abruptly.The series is based on the 1995 true-crime bookMindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unitby John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker.
It’s from the work done by Douglas and Olshaker that we have many of our modern understandings of psychological criminal profiling of serial killers and mass murderers.Mindhunteris mostly a factual retellingof the development of the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI, with Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) as Douglas and Olshaker stand-ins.
The pair of investigators interviews some of America’s most notorious killers, eventually roping in Wendy Carr (Anna Torv) to help them. It’s from these conversations that an outline of the mind of a serial killer starts to be outlined. It’s with this outline that the agents hope to stop other possible serial killers before more people die.
Mindhunter Stood Out Among The Other Offerings In The Crime Genre
The Agents Work To Get Inside The Minds Of Serial Killers
Mindhunterhas a much different feel from other shows in the crime genre. For one, it’s directed by one of thebest crime drama directors ever in David Fincher, and it includes some fantastic performances not only from the leads but from the many actors portraying notorious killers, bringing these men to life with disturbing effectiveness.
What also makes the series so different is how the series is constructed. It’s not the FBI agents trying to find clues to uncover such real spates of killings, like the Atlanta murders and the BTK killer murder. Instead,it’s the agents trying to find the tools and language that they can then use to find clues.
The show becomes a race to see what will happen first: the agents cracking the serial killer code or the serial killers getting away with more crimes.
Intheir attempts to get into the minds of the serial killers, the agents lose sight of their ultimate goal and sight of themselves, consumed with trying to understand what may be incomprehensible. The show becomes a race to see what will happen first: the agents cracking the serial killer code or the serial killers getting away with more crimes.
Why Mindhunter Was Canceled After 2 Seasons
The Series Was Too Expensive To Produce
Unfortunately,Mindhunterwas canceled after two seasons, withthe series being put on an “indefinite hold” in January 2020, a couple of months after the season 2 finale (viaTVLine). The series sat in stasis for years with fans holding out hope that one day it would return, a testament to how beloved it was.
Then, in early 2023,David Fincher dropped the hammer, revealing that the show’s high budget was ultimately why the series was not renewed. He said in an interview with the French magazine,Première Magazine,
“We couldn’t complete the trajectory, but it [Mindhunter] was a gamble. An expensive series, too. Very expensive. We went as far as we could until someone finally said to us, ‘It makes no sense to produce this series like this, unless you can reduce the budget, or make it more pop, so that more people will watch it.’ We did not want to change our approach so, respectfully, they told us that they were drawing a line under it.”
So, while Fincher can be “blamed” for the show not coming back, it’s clear he would have continued on with the show if Netflix had delivered him the budget he knew it required to keep going.
It is a unique show, andperhaps Netflix did not see it as having too much commercial value. It’s a slow-moving, cerebral series, and though serial killers are at the center of the story, there’s not the same sort of gore and salacious kills that fans of true-crime shows may have come to expect.
Mindhunter’s Cancellation Remains One Of Netflix’s Most Disappointing
It Was A Decision Made Entirely Based On Money
Knowing all this does not makeMindhunter’s cancellation any easier to swallow; in fact, it makes it more of a disappointment. David Fincher seems perfectly happy with his relationship with Netflix. He’s since directed two movies for the streamer,MankandThe Killer, and worked on two TV shows,Love, Death & RobotsandVoir.
However, that only makes it more strange that Netflix was unwilling to giveMindhunterthe money it deserved to keep going.Mindhuntercould have been the streamer’s best show, and now it sits unfinished. The creative team was there, critics loved it, and it had a fervent audience base.
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That means this is a decision made completely based on money. Ignoring the questions about the value of art, it just seems silly, considering Netflix has wasted its money plenty of times before. 2024’sElectric Stateis in a long line of Netflix bombs. If Netflix is going to throw money away, why not throw it atMindhunter?
