Netflix Canceled This $200 Million Show - and Fans Still Call it the Streamer's ‘Biggest Mistake'
Some Netflix cancellations loom bigger than others, but there is one show that stands out.
According to Collider, the $200 million production's cancellation is one that fans still struggle to forgive. "Despite the critical acclaim for the Netflix series, however, Mindhunter only got two seasons before the streamer cancelled it," Collider opined. "This was a crime in itself as the series had the potential to be must-see television in the streaming age."
The cancellation, the site noted, "one still lives on in the minds of many."
Why Did Netflix Cancel 'MindHunter'?
Google Translate from French: pic.twitter.com/gK9FyK2pWc
— The Fincher Analyst (@FincherAnalyst) January 21, 2024
Screenrant calledMindhunter "a masterpiece by almost everyone who watches it," so why would Netflix cancel it?
Executive producer David Fincher gave an explanation to the French publication Premiere Magazine. The show aired on Netflix from 2017 through 2019.
In that interview, Fincher explained that the show was risky.
"Maybe House of Cards wasn't a huge risk, but Mindhunter was. A procedural on behavioral sciences that would be neither X-Files, nor CSI, nor Criminal Minds, but would function as the portrait of a guy who loses his virginity in the world of psychosexual sadists?" he said.
"We couldn't complete the trajectory, but it was a gamble. An expensive series, too. Very expensive. We went as far as we could until someone finally said to us, 'It makes no sense to produce this series like this, unless you can reduce the budget, or make it more pop, so that more people will watch it,'" he added.
"We did not want to change our approach so, respectfully, they told us that they were drawing a line under it. That's it: I always take a slight step aside from what is expected of me. Otherwise, I'm not interested," Fincher said in that interview. "At a test screening of Seven, in the second of silence just before the lights came back on, while everyone was gasping for air, I caught the producer cursing at me, 'This guy has taken a great thriller and made it into a foreign film!'"
Fans Analyzed the Cancellation of 'Mindhunter' on Reddit
There are Reddit threads devoted to blasting Netflix for cancelling Mindhunter. "How does this make sense? No money to continue a genuinely good show with a large audience," wrote one Reddit poster.
Other commenters offered that there were reasons that Mindhunter wasn't popular enough to ward off cancellation despite its cost. "Because Mind Hunter was a celebral show that focused on story and characters none of which would be considered 'sexy,'" wrote one person.
"This show will always hold a special place in my heart. I started watching in 2018 right as I started class (college) to obtain my bachelor's in Criminal Justice. Good times," another person wrote.
What made it harder for Mindhunter to catch on is the very reason many people appreciated it.
"Unfortunately, Mindhunter has a very exclusive audience and needs people with a certain sense of understanding to appreciate it," a fan wrote on the Reddit thread. "I'm pretty sure a lot of people don't even know of it's existence. On the other hand, every other true crime show which is being renewed is very basic and obvious and a larger herd of audience tend to understand and appreciate this type of content more sadly."
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 12:17 AM.