New Mindhunter Trailer Profiles A Killer

Jonathan Groff is trying to change the way the FBI does business in the newest trailer for Netflix's upcoming serial killer drama Mindhunter. The show, set in 1979, stars Groff as Holden Ford, an agent in the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit who develops profiling techniques as he hunts down killers. 

The latest trailer begins with Ford's partner, Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), who introduces the pair as two FBI researchers looking into "men like you"– meaning serial killers. This dangerous line of work gets even more intense thanks to Ford's insistence on interviewing the worst of the worst killers. "Shephard finds you you've been interviewing the co-ed killer, he'll flip a s**t," Tench tells him at one point. "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission," Ford replies.

Ford and Tench's actions meet a lot of pushback within the FBI, with one man telling them, "It is not our job to commiserate with these people, it is our job to electrocute them." However, Ford has a hunch that looking into the psyche of men who experience normal things but process them in violent ways could help to stop these murders in the future. "Certainly, our goal is to be preemptive," he says. "We're the FBI," Tench responds. "That's not our goal– yet." 

Mindhunter is based on the book Mind Hunter: Inside FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by Mark Olshaker and John E. Douglas, an FBI profile who interviewed famous killers like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Dennis Rader. The show comes from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button's David Fincher, who will direct episodes along with Asif Kapadia (Senna), Tobais Lindholm (A Hijacking), and Andrew Douglas (The Amityville Horror). He also executive produces along with Charlize Theron and Gone Girl's Joshua Doren and Cean Chaffin. The show is written by playwrights Joe Penhall (Blue/Orange) and Jennifer Haley (The Nether). 

Mindhunter hits Netflix on Oct. 13.