'The Sun, Moon, and Stars Must Align’: Hope for 'Mindhunter' Lives On — But Only as Netflix Films

For fans of Mindhunter, the long, silent pause between seasons may not be the final word after all. Holt McCallany — who played the deeply measured and quietly intense FBI agent Bill Tench — has revealed that talks about reviving the cult crime drama are underway. But this time, it wouldn’t return as a traditional series. According to McCallany, director David Fincher has floated the idea of three feature-length films, though nothing is set in stone.

"I had a meeting with David Fincher in his office a few months ago," McCallany told CBR, "and he said to me that there is a chance that it may come back as three two-hour movies — but I think it’s just a chance."

He added that writers are currently working on scripts, but it all hinges on one key element: "David has to be happy with the scripts."

Netflix effectively placed the series on indefinite hold back in 2020, quietly releasing cast members from their contracts after two seasons. Fincher later admitted the show’s high cost didn’t match its viewership, even if its audience was fervently devoted.

Season two, centred on the Atlanta Child Murders, took a visible toll on the famously meticulous director. He scrapped multiple scripts, dismissed the original showrunner, and even moved to Pittsburgh to oversee production. "I’ll admit," he said at the time, "I was a little bit like, 'I don’t know that I’m ready to spend another two years in the crawl space.'"

Now, with McCallany back on Netflix in The Waterfront and a separate reunion with Fincher in the works — this time on a Tarantino-penned film about Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth — the possibility of a return to the dark corridors of criminal psychology doesn’t seem so far-fetched. Still, as McCallany puts it, for Mindhunter to rise again, "the sun, the moon, and the stars would all have to align."