Trivia / Mindhunter

• Accidental Downer Ending: The series ended this way with season 2 — Bill Tench having come home from Atlanta only to discover his wife and their adopted child have moved away and left him alone. Holden Ford carrying the burden of futility for being unable to pin the 27 murders on their prime suspect. The series arch serial killer, BTK, still out there only getting more disturbing with each glimpse of him. While true that some elements of the story are a Foregone Conclusion, the Fandom, was left wondering about the Artistic License the creators have taken with the characters. Since 2020, the show has been teased for a potential 3rd season, it just hasn't materialized. Even David Fincher while acknowledging the series' critical acclaim has also remarked on Netflix's struggle to keep a movie quality series going. He did say "Maybe in five years" back in 2020, so who knows...
• Actor Allusion: Anna Torv works with the FBI and has to be the stabilizing influence between an intelligent eccentric and his gruff partner. Sound familiar?
• Creator Breakdown: David Fincher became completely burned out on the show after its second season, describing it as having completely taken over every aspect of his life, and so he put it on hiatus in favor of Mank. Unfortunately, afterward the "hiatus" evolved into a proper cancellation on Netflix's end.
• Fake American: Anna Torv is Australian and plays an American. Season 2 also casts the Australian Damon Herrimann as Charles Manson again.
• Fridge Brilliance: In Episode 8 of Season 2, there is a montage of Holden and Bill's gruelling nightshift lookout regime along with the Atlanta PD, set to Gary Numan's 'M.E.'. A fitting song in of itself, but gets even better if you know the song's synth line is famously sampled in another song... Basement Jaxx's 'Where's Your Head At?".
• In Memoriam: The fifth episode's ending credits stated, "Dedicated to our beloved friend and collaborator, Eric Zumbrunnen".
• Playing Against Type: Kristoff as a (embryonic) criminal profiler.
• Role Reprise: Damon Herriman plays Charles Manson for a second time, reprising his role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Apparently, this was done by sheer coincidence rather than an intentional decision; he auditioned for each role separately, and just happened to play Manson in both.
• Scully Box: The already very tall Cameron Britton, who stands at 6'5, wore lifts to play the 6'9 Ed Kemper.
• Shown Their Work: Inverted in one notable case, where the subtitles identify No Mercy's version of "Kiss You All Over" on the soundtrack. It is, in fact, the original version by Exile. No Mercy's remix didn't come out until 1997, decades after the scene being shown.
• Star-Making Role: Cameron Britton had only been acting for a couple of years prior to being cast as Kemper and his enormously popular and acclaimed performance gave him a huge boost as well as an Emmy nomination.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The series was pitched first to HBO, who passed on it.
  • There were originally plans for a third season, with David Fincher stating the show was just going on hiatus after Season 2 (due to Fincher experiencing burnout and wanting to focus on other projects). However, in February 2023 Fincher announced that Netflix had decided to permanently end the show, so a third season will never be made; Fincher stated that Netflix felt the show didn't draw in enough viewers to justify the high production costs.

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