David Fincher should finish his own Netflix show before shooting ‘Squid Game America’

David Fincher is rumored to be developing a Squid Game spinoff for Netflix, but before he does that, we want him to finish what he started at the streamer.

Squid Game has been a phenomenal success for Netflix, with Season 1 breaking records, and the eagerly anticipated Season 2 set to follow suit in just a couple of months.

Being a Korean show in the Korean language, it’s perhaps inevitable that Netflix wants to make an American spinoff. However, more surprising is the news that David Fincher will be working on what we’re dubbing ‘Squid Game America.’

There’s little doubt the filmmaker could craft something special in the Squid Game universe. But Fincher also left Mindhunter viewers hanging five years ago, so we’d rather see him end that show on the streamer before starting something new.

What happened to Mindhunter Season 3?

Netflix

Season 1 of Mindhunter dropped in 2017, while Season 2 followed in 2019. However, due to the rising costs of production, Season 3 was delayed and pushed back before being canceled. 

Mindhunter focused on the birth of the FBI’s elite serial crime unit in the late 1970s, and being a period piece, each episode cost a fortune to make.

Speaking to Variety in 2020 about the third season, Fincher said: “I don’t know if it makes sense to continue. It was an expensive show. It had a very passionate audience, but we never got the numbers that justified the cost.”

There was also trouble behind the scenes, with scripts spiked and a showrunner fired, culminating in the main cast being released from their contracts.

A Netflix representative stated at the time that Fincher “may revisit Mindhunter again in the future, but in the meantime felt it wasn’t fair to the actors to hold them from seeking other work while he was exploring new work of his own.”

This was frustrating for fans, as the show was envisaged as a five-season story, meaning much was set up that’s yet to pay off, both in terms of the advancement of criminal profiling and drama in the lives of protagonists Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff), Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) and Wendy Carr (Anna Torv).

What is Squid Game America?

Netflix

The rumored Squid Game series is a sequel or spinoff that will play out in the English language.

Deadline broke the story overnight, writing that “although details are vague, rumors have been growing for several months about what Fincher could be up to next. While he could squeeze in a movie beforehand, insiders say the Squid Game series is likely the project Fincher commits his time to in 2025.”

Dennis Kelly is thought to be writing the spinoff, which would make sense, as Fincher was such a fan of his work on the Channel 4 show Utopia that he secured the rights for an American remake, before ultimately leaving the project.

The filmmaker also has form on this front, with his 1997 thriller The Game covering similar ground to the first season of Squid Game.

This American iteration won’t be the first Squid Game spinoff either, as we’ve already had hugely successful gameshow Squid Game: The Challenge, which has already been renewed for a second series.

How would Mindhunter have ended?

Netflix

David Fincher had a plan for the end of Mindhunter, with multiple serial killers to follow in Season 3 and 4, then climaxing with the capture of BTK killer Dennis Reader in Season 5.

“At some point, I’d love to revisit it,” Fincher explained to Variety. “The hope was to get all the way up to the late 90s, early 2000s, hopefully, get all the way up to people knocking on the door at Dennis Rader’s house.” 

But that was in 2020, and with Squid Game looking like it will be the filmmaker’s focus for the foreseeable future, that’s probably the final nail in the coffin for any future Mindhunter episodes.

But during a more recent interview, Fincher said he bears no ill will to Netflix over the end of the series, adding: “They took risks to get the show off the ground, gave me the means to do Mank the way I wanted to do it, and they allowed me to venture down new paths with The Killer. 

“It’s a blessing to be able to work with people who are capable of boldness. The day our desires are not the same, we have to be honest about parting ways.”

Head here for everything we know about Squid Game Season 2, while these are 7 shows to watch if you love Squid Game: The Challenge.