Mindhunter Fans Shouldn’t Miss This Gripping 6-Part Apple TV Thriller

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Many consider Mindhunter to be one of Netflix’s best and most carefully researched true crime series, but it may soon find a new home on Apple TV+. The show, which first aired on Netflix in October 2017, delved into the early days of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit in the 1970s and 80s – a time when criminal profiling was just beginning. Featuring strong performances from Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv, Mindhunter had the potential to continue for several seasons, but was unexpectedly cancelled in August 2019.

The series caught Wayne Williams (Christopher Livingston) for the Atlanta child murders, but only after it was too late to save everyone. The last scene showed the BTK Killer (Sonny Valicenti) collecting keepsakes and planning future crimes, hinting at storylines that might never be explored. If you enjoyed Mindhunter and are looking for another intense, suspenseful true crime drama to binge-watch, Black Bird is an excellent choice.

Black Bird Fills the True Crime Gap Left By Mindhunter

Despite being a hit on Netflix, Mindhunter was ultimately cancelled. If you enjoyed that show and are looking for something similar – a realistic, intense, and true crime-based drama – Black Bird is a great option. It debuted in July 2022 and is based on the 2010 autobiography by Jimmy Keene, and features talent from shows like Shutter Island and The Wire.

Even four years after its release, the six-part series Black Bird is still highly praised. The show centers around Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton), a former football player who built a successful, but illegal, drug operation in Chicago and was eventually arrested. Agent Lauren McCauley (Sepideh Moafi) offers Keene a deal: in exchange for infiltrating a mental institution for dangerous criminals, his prison sentence will be reduced.

While in prison, he became friends with Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), a man convicted of murder twice before, and convinced him to admit to killing 14 additional women. The performances of Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser in Black Bird are outstanding, brilliantly portraying the intense and complex relationship between Jimmy Keene and Larry Hall.

As a big fan of both shows, I’ve noticed a lot of people are drawing parallels between the relationships in Black Bird and those in Mindhunter, especially the one Holden Ford had with Ed Kemper. But it’s not just that. The feel of Black Bird really reminds me of Mindhunter – both shows feel incredibly real, with characters who are complex, flawed, and explore some really heavy emotional and philosophical themes. It’s that shared sense of grounded, raw storytelling that I find so compelling in both.

Both Mindhunter and Black Bird explore the psychology behind serial killers and the challenges of building a criminal profile. Mindhunter offers a broad look at the process through the experiences of FBI agents, while Black Bird focuses on a single, in-depth case. With only six episodes, Black Bird aims to satisfy viewers who were disappointed when Mindhunter ended.

Will Black Bird Or Mindhunter Return in the Future?

If you enjoyed Mindhunter and are looking for something new, Black Bird on Apple TV is definitely worth checking out. It’s a shame there’s only one season with six episodes, but that was the plan from the start, as creator Dennis Lehane designed it as a limited series.

There’s a chance the show could come back as an anthology series, similar to American Horror Story, Beef, Monster, or True Detective. Instead of continuing Larry Hall’s story, each season could focus on a different serial killer. This opens up possibilities to explore cases of killers we’ve already seen featured in shows like Mindhunter, or introduce entirely new ones.

Although there’s potential for a new season of Black Bird, Apple TV hasn’t officially announced anything yet. Meanwhile, Mindhunter already gave us two seasons, and its fans have been eagerly awaiting a third for the past seven years.

I was really disappointed to hear that David Fincher put Mindhunter Season 3 on hold back in 2019 while he was working on Mank. He pretty much confirmed in 2020 that the show was finished, at least for the time being, but he did leave the door open to potentially revisiting it down the line, so there’s still a tiny bit of hope for fans like me.

In June 2025, actor Holt McCallany shared that he and director David Fincher have talked about bringing back the show Mindhunter. The potential return could be as three feature-length movies, and writers are currently exploring this possibility. However, Fincher needs to approve the scripts before the project can move forward. McCallany has even written a script himself that could serve as one of the movies, offering a positive outlook for fans of the series.

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2026-04-07 13:10