‘Mindhunter’ Star Holt McCallany Teases ‘Complex’ Second Season (Exclusive)

Nearly two years after it premiered its debut season, Netflix is delving back into the criminal psyche in Mindhunter Season 2. The 10-episode second season, available for streaming on Friday, is upping the ante as the investigative work from Agents Bill Tench and Holden Ford is applied to their first major case in a season that series star Holt McCallany called “complex and very intricate.”

Jumping ahead to the year 1979, Season 2 will find McCallany’s Agent Bill Tench and Jonathan Groff’s Holden Ford putting the knowledge that they have gained from “the study,” their series of interviews with notorious serial killers, to use as they are called in to aid the investigation into the Atlanta Child Murders.

“This will be the first time that our two central characters, Holden Ford and Bill Tench, are going to try to apply the ideas that they’ve developed through the interviews that they’ve conducted with the incarcerated serial killers,” McCallany exclusively told PopCulture.com.

The serial killers that McCallany is speaking of includes the charismatic Ed Kemper, portrayed by Cameron Britton, that stunned fans in the freshmen season. It also includes a number of other well-known criminals, such as Charles Manson, David Berkowitz (Son of Sam/.44 Caliber Killer), William Pierce Jr., and several more.

“They’re going to try to apply the things they’ve learned from the study for the first time in an active investigation where we’re going to be collaborating with local law enforcement,” he said. “We’re continuing to do the same type of work that we were doing in season one, except we are also going to be working very closely with the Atlanta P.D. to try to solve this terrible case.”

Meanwhile, the relationship between Ford and Tench will continue to take center stage. Throughout the first season, the characters had become unlikely allies as they joined forces to better understand the criminal psyche and further develop a criminal profiling system that would allow them to catch perpetrators before more crimes could be carried out. Their stark contrast in personalities, however, oftentimes led to conflict.

“There was a lot of conflict in season one between Holden and Bill and that continues in season two. Because, whereas Holden is a very talented agent with some very innovative ideas, he’s also very unpredictable,” McCallany said. “And sometimes his behavior can be a little erratic and so this is one of the real sources of conflict in the relationship between Bill and Holden.”

The series’ sophomore run, McCallany said, speaks to the hardwork that happens both behind the scenes and on the screen, with the Season 2 cast expanding to include a number of actors taking on the difficult challenge of portraying some of the nation’s most prolific serial killers.

“We worked really hard on it and we’ve got some really, really superb performances from the actors in supporting roles this season. For example, the young man who plays Charles Manson is amazing. The guy who plays David Berkowitz, who was the Son of Sam, was amazing, and all of those artists,” he said. “Our casting director, Laray Mayfield, has really done an extraordinary job finding the perfect actors to play these roles because they’re not easy roles.”

Season 1 of Mindhunter is currently available for streaming. Season 2 will be available on Netflix on Friday, Aug. 16.