Mindhunter and Monster: The Ed Gein Story had a crossover absolutely no one was expecting. Both shows are based on real-life people and events, which makes the crossover all the more mindblowing. Mindhunter takes place in the 1970s and follows FBI agents Holden Ford and Bill Trench as they attempt to examine and understand the psyche of serial killers in the hopes of better understanding the motives that drive these damaged individuals. Along the way, agents Ford and Trench wind up developing what is now modern-day serial killer profiling. The series serves as a dramatization of the 1995 true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, written by FBI agent John E. Douglas, the real-life inspiration behind the character Holden Ford. The show employs the true stories of serial killers, including Edmund Kemper, BTK, Richard Speck, and more.
Ryan Murphy’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story follows the disturbing, real-life story of one of the most notorious, yet widely unknown serial killers and grave robber, Ed Gein, of Plainfield, Wisconsin, amidst his active years, in the 1950s. Gein is portrayed by Charlie Hunnam, who gives a career-best performance in the anthology series’ third installment. Both shows are based on real people with obvious dramatization for entertainment. And while both generated significant buzz, the finale episode of Monster couldn’t have been more perfect for fans still mourning the abrupt end of Mindhunter.
The Crossover That Shocked Fans
In the eighth and final episode of Monster, Gein is visited by two FBI agents searching for Ted Bundy. The agents turn out to be John Douglas and Robert Ressler, the two FBI agents who influenced the Mindhunter characters, Holden and Trench. Monster certainly took the liberty of presenting plenty of fabrications throughout its third season, one of which being this very scene; the real-life FBI agents never met Gein, nor did Holden and Trench in Mindhunter. And, Gein never helped the FBI in finding Ted Bundy.
Still, it felt like an homage to one of the greatest thrillers on Netflix, and avid fans of the gone-too-soon series have rejoiced in getting a momentary continuation and an iteration of the beloved characters again. Monster‘s showrunner and co-creator, Ian Brennan, emphasized that this was intentional, as Ed Gein was possibly an influence on the real-life agents’ work, and to further iterate Geins’ impact on our culture. He told Tudum:
“We wanted to underline the last thing tonally that through Silence of the Lambs, he really influenced Mindhunter as well. That would be a fun way to put a cap on it, to use this other filmic vocabulary and then talk about the ways that he was part of those early days of FBI profiling.”
Will There Be a Third Season of ‘Mindhunter?’
Mindhunter was canceled after only two seasons from 2017 to 2019 due to the show’s high budget, despite rave reviews from critics and fans alike. Since then, there have been rumblings of a third season or a movie, but it wouldn’t happen on Netflix. Showrunner, frequent series director, and executive producer, David Fincher stated in 2023 that he’s “very proud of the first two seasons, but it’s a particularly expensive series and, in the eyes of Netflix, we haven’t attracted a large enough audience to justify such an investment.”
However, this recent crossover has provided the cult following of Mindhunter renewed hope for a third season. Unfortunately for fans, it doesn’t look like that’s in the cards, or at least anytime soon, that is. Charlize Theron, who also served as one of the series’ executive producers, has mentioned to various outlets that she is not opposed to a third season of Mindhunter, and she actually welcomes it, but it’s ultimately up to Fincher, who currently has a stacked schedule, and big boots to fill, taking over the reins of Quentin Tarantino’s sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, titled The Adventures of Cliff Booth. Monster: The Ed Gein Story and Mindhunter are available to stream now on Neflix.
- Release Date
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2017 – 2019
- Showrunner
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Joe Penhall
- Writers
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Joe Penhall
