We already knew that Netflix has plans to double its original programming for 2016, and now one of the dramas we can look forward to seeing on the online streaming service is the drama Mind Hunter. Variety announced on Dec. 22 that Netflix has landed the drama, and House of Cards producer and director, David Fincher, will be collaborating with Mad Max: Fury Road star Charlize Theron on the project and both will executive produce the series.
Fincher is also anticipated to direct the new series, and this won’t be his first time handling the topic of serial killers. Fincher previously directed the films Zodiac and Se7en.
The development process for Mind Hunter has been especially long. The project was actually initially set up with HBO six years ago. Originally, the drama was set at Fox 21, but Scott Buck, who was supposed to adapt the novel for television is now the showrunner for Netflix’s other upcoming show, Iron Fist. Now, Fincher has recruited Joe Penhall to write the drama. Why it’s taken as long as six years for the drama to even reach this point, nobody seems to know. But this is not the first time Fincher’s deals have fallen through with HBO. Finscher was recently working on two projects with HBO, Utopia and Video Synchronicity, but “production issues” ended both series.
The series now coming to Netflix is based on the the book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Douglas was an FBI profiler and investigator of some of the most notorious rapists and serial killers. The book gives details about the techniques Douglas developed during his time at the FBI and also gives an inside look at some of the highest-profile cases. And I’m talking about real cases and real murders. Douglas’s experiences and expertise have already inspired several TV and film characters such as Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, Will Graham on Hannibal, and Jason Gideon in Criminal Minds.