'Mindhunter' Season 2 Tackles A Series Of Unsolved Murders

It has been over a year since the first season of David Fincher's Mindhunter dropped on Netflix. Set in the late '70s, the show followed the development of the FBI's criminal profiling department, headed up by agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), as well as psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv). The first season explored the mindset of various serial killers in chilling interview sequences, and the second takes on a whole new set of crimes. But when does Mindhunter Season 2 premiere? Fans have already been waiting some time for new episodes.

Luckily, that wait is almost over. In around a month on Aug. 16, Season 2 of Mindhunter will debut on Netflix. Retired FBI agent John E. Douglas, whose book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit inspired the show, spoke to Vulture about what to expect from the sophomore season. Though he didn't know all the details, he thought that Season 2 would probably have around eight episodes in total, which is two less than the first season's ten. He also revealed that the series would have a five-year arc if everything went according to plan. Provided Netflix chooses to continue renewing it, you might be seeing a lot more of these characters in the years to come.

Douglas told Vulture which real-life crimes the second season would be focusing on, too. David Berkowitz, a.k.a. the Son of Sam, would play a part in the next installment of the series, as would Charles Manson. According to Collider, Manson will be played by actor Damon Herriman, who already played the character in Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Do you think he puts "looks convincingly like Charles Manson" under the Special Skills section of his resume, or is it just a coincidence?

In addition to those famous criminals, Season 2 of Mindhunter will explore the Atlanta child murders. The New York Times reported that from 1979 to 1981, over two dozen children, aged 7 to 17, were abducted and killed in Atlanta, Georgia. The victims were primarily black, and their killer was never found. Though there have been suspects, no one has been officially arrested for or convicted of the crimes, making this a frustrating cold case without any answers. Per The New York Times, police believed a man named Wayne Williams was responsible after he was arrested for killing two adults. But his alleged involvement in the child killings has never been definitively proven and he was not charged with those murders.

The case of the Atlanta child murders was reopened in 2019, according to NBC News. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced that new technology would be used to look at the evidence, because advances in DNA testing could yield results that were not possible in the 1980s. There may never be answers, but renewed interest in the case could always unearth some new information.

It's not clear yet how Mindhunter will approach such a huge unsolved case like this one. It's possible that the show will put forth its own theories about various suspects, or explore the ambiguity of the story. There are still a few weeks to go before viewers will get to see it all unfold for themselves in Season 2.