Yeah, all eight installments of Mindhunter’s latest season have already been binged. It’s OK. Actually, we’ve all been to the same place before. And because we’ve all been there before — really we do — we know that all you want right now is enough to hold the same taste.
Thankfully the theme of “serial killer” has become one of the most populated formats on Television. So don’t worry — no Mindhunter episodes may be left, but there are plenty of shows that can keep you in the same mood.
Including roles you’ve heard about before, to actual humans (like Mindhunter), to difficult things, this list has all kinds of choices in your core to fill the Mindhunter-shaped void. These are some of the strongest series for a serial murderer to find out and more of Web series like Mindhunter.
Here are Top 20 web series like Mindhunter:
Criminal Minds
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
Criminal Minds is by far the longest-running series on this list, with 14 seasons already in the books. But not quite as artsy — this is, after all, a procedural CBS — it’s designed entirely with the same DNA as Mindhunter, researching the killers themselves.
The crew running the Criminal Minds show is essentially the fully-formed grassroots unit version depicted in Mindhunter. The series will finally wrap up its lengthy run with next year’s 15th season.
Related: Shows Like Criminal Minds
Hannibal
Available on Netflix
Here is a story that you have read before. This series follows Mads Mikkelson as Hannibal, and Hugh Dancy as the FBI profiler Will Graham, based on the famed Red Dragon books by Thomas Harris — the same source material as The Silence of the Lambs and the legendary performance by Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.
The series is hyper-stylized, which looks like a more graphic Mindhunter film. Mikkelson has become one of the industry’s best villain actors and as the infamous cannibal in his early years, he works it to perfection. This is one of the best Netflix series like Mindhunter.
Dexter
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
Whether you want to go straight into a killer’s head, this Showtime masterpiece is an utter must. Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) is a renowned Miami Metro Police Department blood-spatter expert, and a much better serial murderer.
Unlike the serial murderers on Mindhunter you’re hearing about, Dexter has a rigid Code and no conscience, so you’re going to find yourself cheering for him somehow, which is pretty messed up. Perhaps do miss the conclusion of the show though.
Sharp Objects
Available on Amazon Prime
Airing on HBO last summer, this slow-burning miniseries was based on Gillian Flynn (who also published Gone Girl) a celebrated novel of the same name. It can travel a little quickly but believe us: it will blow your mind at the end of the show.
This sure is worth the wait. And, if you’re a lover of strong acting, Amy Adams is putting on an absolute masterclass — why she’s a national treasure is obvious.
True Detective
Available on Amazon Prime
With the success of the first season, Nic Pizzolatto’s anthology mystery drama True Detective was an instant hit, featuring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as a pair of Louisiana dispute investigators investigating a murder investigation spanning three decades. There have been often comparisons made between Mindhunter v/s True Detective when it comes to shows of this genre.
As you might have learned, the first season is phenomenal — Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are heading a southern gothic assassination mystery packed with beautiful sights, surprising story twists, and outstanding performance
The second season was less well-received but the third was a return to form, combining Pizzolatto ‘s supernatural obsession with death with a narrative that was impressively complex. For all lovers of the genre, the show is a much-watch, a new take of what a crime drama would feel like and contend with.
Fringe
Available on Amazon Prime
This one is not available for streaming, but if you’re a big Mindhunter fan, then Fringe is a must-watch absolute. Firstly, it stars two notable cast members of Mindhunter: Anna Torv, who plays Wendy Carr, and Michael Cerveris, who plays the Behavioral Science Unit’s new head in season two. Torv is also a part of the FBI on Fringe, director Olivia Dunham, who also leads the office’s secret branch, known as the Fringe Branch.
As well as a crazy scientist played by John Noble, his suspect son played by Joshua Jackson, and a junior investigator played by Jasika Nicole, she aims to investigate unusual, otherworldly crimes that don’t fall into the conventional forensic mold.
Cerveris plays a character named September, who is an “Observer” – a man race of unknown motives. The series is brilliant, highly undervalued, and – given the similarities to Mindhunter – is probably one of our picks.
Killing Eve
Available on Amazon Prime
Produced by BBC America, the first season of Killing Eve was such a big hit with American audiences that the second season was simulcast on AMC.
Kind of a cross between a cat-and-mouse mystery and a coming-of-age spy story, the show follows Sandra Oh’s Eve as she targets Villanelle, a cruel and childlike assassin portrayed by Jodie Comer.
Related: Shows Like Killing Eve
The Sinner
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
Another set of anthologies (well, a set of quasi-anthology — Bill Pullman’s character hangs on from year to year) aims in each season at a new mystery, then investigates it backward. We witness a murder with our own eyes in the opening moments of the first season. We see who is doing it and we see how it’s happening. The problem posed by The Sinner is why.
The second season takes a similar approach, opening with a child-murdering his parents brutally. The question that we are being asked is why, again. It is one of the last couples of years’ exclusive new shows. Apart from Pullman’s detective character, Jessica Biel is a first season revelation — she was nominated for her trouble last year for an Emmy.
Related: Series Like The Sinner
Barry
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
It is not a show of “serial killer” in the way others are, but it is nevertheless a show of serial killer. Barry follows Bill Hader as the titular character (for which he won an Emmy last year in the best role of his career), a hitman who wants to become an actor. But granted the fact that he’s, well, a hitman, he constantly has the police and investigators on his tail.
It’s a clever inversion; this might possibly be a police series looking for a vicious killer if it had come from the viewpoint of the officers. But it is from the viewpoint of the perpetrator, so he’s really a goofball who wants to be an actress.
Aquarius
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
Just as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Mindhunter, and Quentin Tarantino, this little-seen show featuring David Duchovny has Charles Manson and his killer organization as a central focal point. Aquarius only lasted two seasons — the first focused on the family upsurge, and the second on the murders of Tate/LaBianca.
Twin Peaks
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
The original Twin Peaks was an absolute epic of his time — a captivating serial killer assassination mystery with strange characters, tones, and plot points. This is really one of the best shows ever, also with just two long seasons. It also happens that Kyle MacLachlan’s special agent Dale Cooper is one of the greatest television characters in history.
And while the rest of television caught some of it in the nearly 30 years it spent off the air, 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return was equally spectacular; there was simply nothing else on television like that. It’s even hard to describe — you need to see that to believe.
Manhunt: Unabomber
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
This one is based entirely on the true story of Ted Kaczynski, better known as The Unabomber, and Jim Fitzgerald, the FBI agent who had brought him down. This is somewhat close to Mindhunter, except that it particularly focuses on this one scenario.
The ensemble of the series is fairly packed too — Paul Bettany (who portrays Vision in the Avengers movies) portrays Kaczynski, and Fitzgerald is portrayed by Sam Worthington (blast from the past!). Some other fun faces show up in smaller roles, such as Jane Lynch and Mark Duplass.
Riverdale
Available on Netflix
All of the three seasons of the series have concentrated on different types of murder mysteries; the first season has become a simple whodunit, while the second season has taken more of a slasher style. The third season is plunging into the cult, and well, we’re going to leave it there. It’s silly and completely off the top — but if you can tolerate that, then Riverdale will be limitless fun too.
Related: Shows to Riverdale
Broadchurch
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
Think Holden and Tench are nervous and broody? The cops Ellie Miller and Alec Hardy (played by the incredible Olivia Coleman and David Tennant) had little against them. When a young boy’s murder sends a little British town into a frenzy, Detective Inspector Hardy is sent in to form the local police. Meanwhile, Investigator Sgt. Miller has to deal with the possibility that there is a ruthless murderer in her area, there she recognizes.
The Following
Available on Amazon Prime
Would you be a cult leader or a follower? If this Fox series is to be believed, probably a mindless member of the flock. Former FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) is brought back into the fold in The Following to recapture notorious serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy), who has escaped from prison.
Trouble is, Joe has a swarm of followers willing and ready to make his bid, including kidnapping Joe ‘s son from his innocent mother. The trouble is, there’s just about anyone who could work against Hardy.
Luther
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
Did you catch Luther? If not, now is your time; starring one of the world’s greatest movie stars right now (Idris Elba), each season Luther finds a different dark mystery, usually involving a serial killer. The titular anti-hero is a deeply disturbed man and he uses his own demons to get to the bottom of things, much like Mindhunter’s Holden Ford.
The Jinx
Available on Amazon Prime
The only documentary to make this list (and believe us, we might have included several others, like Making a Murderer), The Jinx is the one to make the cut for a very simple reason: it has an ending. Too many shows such as this are left open-ended, as the real-life scenario has been left accessible. Not for The Jinx. It’s absolutely unique, totally addictive, and completely real.
The Alienist
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
The Alienist was compared to a Mindhunter version from the 1800s. This TNT series is a pretty easy binge at just one season (although a follow-up has been ordered) if you’re looking to keep those serial killer juices flowing — although in a whole different era. The Alienist is a strong one to bear in mind, with several big stars heading the cast — Daniel Bruhl, Luke Evans, and Dakota Fanning.
Dark
Available on Netflix
For ya, this is our elevator pitch: Mindhunter meets Stranger Things. You should. May 2017, the German sci-fi drama hit Netflix and told the grisly tale of a small town shocked by the abduction of two little boys. precisely 33 years ago another infant vanished the same way.
Unbelievable
Available on Amazon Prime | Netflix
The streaming of this limited eight-episode series is just finished on a serial rapist and, oh man, it’s up to its title. I wanted to scream at so many people — from the rapist himself to the cops who ignored Marie Adler, a teen victim, to Marie’s disgusting foster mother. But I also found heroes in Merritt Wever’s Det. Duvall and Rasmussen’s Det. Toni Collette, and was amazed by the power of Kaitlyn Dever’s performance as Marie.
The real Marie Adler expressed her feelings about the show, and I’m sure you’ll feel good too. This is one of the similar shows on Netflix like Mindhunter.
Conclusion:
Many of us prefer TV series when it comes to real crime — because the filmmakers have more time to really dig into the topic and show all sides — there are also plenty of real crime movies worth streaming on Netflix, Prime, Hulu, etc. These were some of our recommendations for people looking for Webseries like Mindhunter.