A newly released poster for Mindhunter Season 3 ramped up hype for its supposed release, although some wonder whether it is even real.
Based on John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker's 1995 book titled Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit, the Netflix series (directed by David Fincher) garnered critical praise during its 2017-2019 run.
Centered on the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, which analyzed the minds of America's most notorious serial killers, fans have clamored for the story to continue since its most recent episodes aired five years ago.
Is Mindhunter Season 3 Real or Fake?
A fan-made poster is making the rounds online (primarily on Facebook) teasing what seems to be the release of Mindhunter Season 3.
Featuring a massive blood splatter in the background, the series' main cast - Holt McCallany, Anna Torv, and Jonathan Groff - stand together with a new case file.
The poster, which can be seen below, teases an alleged release on Netflix of October 11:
Along with the poster came the following synopsis, teasing the original cast's return for the supposed new season.
The poster comes from a Facebook page known for promoting fake posters and trailers for hypothetical movies, with Mindhunter Season 3 not set for release anytime soon, if at all.
Will Mindhunter Season 3 Ever Be Released?
Even considering the hype building for a possible Mindhunter Season 3, the odds of it coming to fruition are slim to none at best.
A November 2019 profile of star Jonathan Groff from The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Season 3 was "on hold" until creator David Fincher completed his work on 2020's Mank:
"Talk of a third season of 'Mindhunter' is on hold while Fincher focuses on his next feature."
January 2020 saw the cast released from their contracts as Fincher moved on to feature-length movies once again.
At the time, a Netflix spokesperson told TV Line that the director "may revisit Mindhunter again in the future," but the streamer did not want to hold the actors back "from seeking other work:"
"David is focused on directing his first Netflix film 'Mank' and on producing the second season of 'Love, Death and Robots.' He may revisit 'Mindhunter' again in the future, but in the meantime felt it wasn’t fair to the actors to hold them from seeking other work while he was exploring new work of his own."
Fincher then confirmed with Forbes that the series is over for now, commenting on how expensive it was to make and how it "didn't attract enough of an audience" during its run:
"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. 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."
The only sign of hope for the show's future came from star Holt McCallany, who told Screen Rant that Fincher had ideas for "five seasons of these characters" following Season 1's run in 2017:
"You know I’m in small, you know, supporting parts, peripheral parts. And so it was a big deal for me to be invited back by David in one of the leads. Because you know I believe in his talent, you know, and I know that you know, he wants to do five years of this show. Five seasons of these characters and so I’m hopeful, you know I don’t take anything for granted."
But for now, all indications point to Mindhunter's run being over as Fincher and the crew move on to new endeavors.
Mindhunter Season 1 and 2 are available to stream on Netflix.
