'Mindhunter' season 2 new first look brings serial killer Charles Manson and Atlanta murder suspect Wayne Williams into the picture
"Manipulation. Domination. Control. These are the three watchwords of violent serial offenders." This voiceover sums up the premise of David Fincher's 'Mindhunter' that brims with such sharp-witted dialogues. After a two-year wait, the second season returns to Netflix on August 16. Revolving around FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) who hunt down notorious serial killers with help from psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv), the first season ended on a tricky climax.
Netflix just released some new stills from season two and here are some clues that we have decoded. While the first season was set in 1977, the second season will follow the Atlanta murders of 1979–81 and the first set of pictures are proof enough. Based on a series of murders committed in Atlanta, Georgia, the incident saw the brutal killings of more than 28 African-American children and adolescents, mostly under the age of 15. The new photos show Holden and Bill's investigations in that case.
Moreover, the pictures also offer the first look of Wayne Williams, the primary suspect in the case. While he could never be charged for the Atlanta Child Murders and still maintains his innocence, he was arrested, tried, and convicted for the murder of two adults and subsequently sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
As expected, serial killer Edmund Kemper (Cameron Britton) is back in season two. His next round of interrogation is set in a church. His interviews piqued much interest and viewers are curious to know more about Ford and Kemper's connection. With dialogues like, "Cops like me because they can talk to me more than they can talk to their own wives, some of them," he opened his heart to the special agents giving insight into how the mind of a killer works.
The most interesting part about the stills are the first looks of the criminal and cult leader Charles Manson, who makes his debut in season two. Damon Herriman has been cast for the role and he will also play the infamous criminal in Quentin Tarantino's new movie 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood'.
Another new killer to be interviewed on the show is David Berkowitz aka the Son of Sam. It will be quite riveting to see why FBI agents Holden and Bill seek them and understand their psyche behind their crimes.
In a podcast for The Treatment, Fincher said, "In the 70s, post-Manson, post-Son of Sam, post-Zodiac, there really was, I don’t think you can say it was an epidemic, but there was definitely the feeling that the notion of this has gotten away from us."
“There was this transition. I remember it happening with Son of Sam. When I left the Bay Area in the mid-1970s and our parents moved to Oregon, you go 300 miles north and nobody talked about Zodiac. It had been this festering thing that had never been brought to any kind of closure but no one cared about it [outside of the Bay Area]. Then Son of Sam came, and it was Newsweek and Time, the cover," he said.
The images hint at the addition of new actors in the cast, such as Joe Tuttle, Albert Jones, Stacey Roca, Michael Cerveris, Lauren Glazier and Sierra McClain.