Release Date, Cast, Renewal or Canceled, Netflix

By clockspider Last updated Mar 21, 2021

‘Mindhunter’ is an American crime drama web series that airs on Netflix. The series first premiered on October 13, 2017. It has been created for television by Joe Penhall and is inspired by the nonfiction book ‘Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit’, by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker.

The series marked the return of David Fincher to the small screen after a long time, having helped create Netflix’s first original show, ‘House of Cards‘, and it is a treat to watch his work. This serial killer saga is one of the best Netflix originals and is entirely binge-worthy. The show turned decades of crime procedurals on their heads by not emphasizing the act of murder and focusing on the study of the psychology and circumstances that led to those acts. There is a historical roadmap for the show to follow, of course, having been based on the book.

Denver and Delilah Productions is the company backing the project, while Jim Davidson and Mark Winemaker. Beth Kono, Charlize Theron, Joe Penhall, Ceán Chaffin, Joshua Donen, and David Fincher are on board as the executive producers of the show. It is basically set in the late 1970s and follows two FBI agents as they travel around the country to interview serial killers, in an attempt to solve open cases.

Mindhunter Cast: Who is in it?

The central cast of the show includes Johnathan Groff as Holden Ford, a Special Agent with the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit or BSU. Holt McCallany appears as Bill Tench, a fellow special agent. Anna Torv appears as Wendy Carr, a closeted psychologist who works at Boston University. There are other characters of course, including Ford’s girlfriend Debbie Mitford, played by Hannah Gross. Some other characters are a little more unsavory including Cameron Britton as Ed Kemper, Sam Strike as Monty Rissell. They are both among the serial killers who are interviewed by Ford and Tench.

In the upcoming season, one thing is for certain, Carr, Tench, and Ford will be returning. Sonny Valicenti who played an ADT serviceman might also be returning, and we will later go into how his story might unfurl. However, for now, one actor is confirmed to be added to the cast of the upcoming season. Damon Herriman of ‘Justified’ fame will be appearing as Charles Manson. For those unaware, Manson was a cult leader, who apparently drew inspiration from an album by The Beatles and went on a murderous rampage whose victims included the likes of Sharon Tate, the wife of the acclaimed but controversial director, Roman Polanski. Film buffs might be interested to know that Herriman will also step into the role of Charles Manson in Quentin Tarantino’s highly anticipated film, ‘Once Upon a Time In Hollywood‘.

it would also be important to mention here that the characters of Carr, Tench, and Ford, are based on real-life people, namely Ann Wolbert Burgess, Robert K. Ressler, and John E. Douglas, respectively.

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Mindhunter Plot: What is it about?

The main plot of ‘Mindhunter’ is about FBI agents who travel the country to interview serial killers and help local law enforcement agencies with their cases. Their research, in real-life, was instrumental to the functioning of the BSU and is one of the earliest steps taken towards official profiling of the actions of a serial killer. Needless to say, the show takes the viewers deep into what goes on inside the minds of serial killers. We are shown how some of them can be volatile, while others can be perfectly cold and calculated. It might be a slow burner for some, but the psychological intensity makes it binge-worthy. The series also does not glamorize any aspect of what is portrayed. There is no singular big bad guy or brilliant detective at work here. There are serial killers, and there are criminals. The trick is to get inside their heads to figure out how they operate. The agents use this research in open cases as well, showing how profiling became a tool in crime solving in the USA.

The upcoming season of the show will focus on the Atlanta child murders, which was revealed by Fincher in an interview with Billboard while discussing the music. “Next year we’re looking at the Atlanta child murders, so we’ll have a lot more African-American music which will be nice,” he said. “The music will evolve. It’s intended to support what’s happening with the show and for the show to evolve radically between seasons.”

These crimes were committed between 1979 and 1981, meaning that the show is likely to make a time jump in between seasons, but it is also possible that the show might rearrange the chronology. Wayne Williams was eventually found guilty of the crimes, but he has maintained his innocence and some still believe he didn’t commit all the murders. The case was an important one for John E. Douglas, the FBI profiler that Holden is based on.

Read More: Mindhunter Season 1 Explained

The focus of the upcoming season might be a surprise if you assumed that it will focus on the killer seen in most of the initial season’s strange opening segments and also the final image. If you researched about him, you might know that he is Dennis Rader, best known as the BTK killer. The letters in the name stand for “Blind, Torture, Kill”, which should give you an idea of why he was such a terrifying figure. Though he began committing his crimes in 1974, he wasn’t actually arrested till 2005. So, he might be the focal point of the series in a later season.

Moreover, it would be interesting to see the members of the BSU put together all the knowledge from the interviews, and actually apply it to capture a serial killer. The BTK killer has been teased to us for a long time. Over the initial season, the story set up his arc to become more and more sinister, and although it was easy to forget him once Tench and Ford took over, it will not be so easy once the killings start. As one of the most prolific serial killers in the history of America, the BTK will surely feature in the series in a much more major capacity, and Fincher’s current plans for the show extends to more than one season, so we have to wait and see when he makes a major appearance.

Mindhunter Season 2 Release Date: When will it premiere?

‘Mindhunter’ Season 1 premiered on October 13, 2017. Though the follow-up of the show was ordered by Netflix six months prior to the release of the first season, the show was officially renewed for a second season by Netflix on November 30, 2018 through a tweet. The show is expected have only eight episodes unlike the first which had ten, and only the first and last episodes will be directed by David Fincher.

As far the release date goes, we have unofficial cofirmation from Charlize Theron that the next season is indeed coming back this year. In an interview with Howard Stern, Theron revealed that Mindhunter Season 2 release date will be sometime in August, 2019. On July 12, 2019, David Fincher confirmed the exact release date to be August 16, 2019.

Mindhunter Trailer:

While we wait for the next season, check out the trailer for Season 1 to refresh your memory of the show. If you have not watched ‘Mindhunter’ yet, you do not know what you are missing out on. Check out the show on Netflix, that holds up a mirror to the most depraved corners of the human mind.

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