Monster: The Ed Gein Story pays tribute to "perfect" cancelled Netflix series – and fans are divided

The final episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story focuses on the 'legacy' of Gein and his crimes, namely on some of history's most talked-about serial killers. The episode opens with a focus on Ted Bundy but at that point in time, he remains an unsolved case, with the FBI desperately trying to look for answers about who this perpetrator could be.

Well, Monster season 3 throws in a surprise Netflix Easter egg by somehow temporarily transforming into a segment that seems very much inspired by Mindhunter. The now cancelled hit series focused on the era of criminal profiling, centring on FBI agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench who, along with psychologist Wendy Carr, operated the FBI's Behavioural Science Unit.

The true crime series followed Ford, Tench and Carr who were played by Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany and Anna Torv respectively. As well as showing the journey of beginning this kind of FBI investigative practices, the series majorly centred on the ways that the trio worked together to try and nab some of the country's worst serial killers.

In Mindhunter, serial killers like Ed Kemper, Jerry Brudos, Richard Speck and Charles Manson were all referenced or had their cases explored – with the aforementioned all appearing in the finale of Monster, also.

At the beginning of the finale episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story, we see FBI agents John Douglas (Sean Carrigan) and Robert Ressler (Caleb Ruminer) go to visit Brudos in prison to question him about his crimes and whether he has any insight on this new faceless serial killer that they can't catch.

While interviewing Brudos, he reveals that he was inspired by Gein, which leads Ann Burgess (Megan Ketch) to suggest they just go straight to Gein for his own interview. Gein gives them some information about saws and weaponry, which leads them to catching Ted Bundy.

But for fans of Mindhunter, they'll recognise the team – but not quite as they knew them in their own series. In Monster, the characters use the names of the real-life people who inspired the characters of Mindhunter rather than Ford, Trench and Carr.

The blurring of fact and fiction in Monster is a very big one, especially as there's no evidence or record of Gein assisting an FBI investigation into the arrest of Ted Bundy. The Behavioural Science Unit was set up in the '70s, where Gein was arrested in 1957.

While Monster is now becoming known as a series that sometimes sensationalises its stories rather than presenting concrete facts, the inclusion of a Mindhunter-style finale has certainly divided fans.

One X user particularly loved its inclusion, writing: "The Mindhunter tribute in the finale of The Ed Gein Story hit me right in the heart. God, I miss that show, the atmosphere, the tension, the brilliance. I’ll never forgive Netflix for cancelling something that perfect."

However, another wasn't a fan of it at all, writing: "The Mindhunter key jangling at the end of the Ed Gein Monster story is not only annoying, it’s insulting to the creators of Mindhunter and the actors who starred in that show."

Some fans have also criticised Netflix's ability to lean into Mindhunter, without actually renewing the series – something fans have been rallying for for a while now. One user said: "whispers: instead of doing Mindhunter cosplay in this season of Monster, Netflix should just bring back Mindhunter".

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Mindhunter ran for a total of two seasons and debuted back in 2017, with the streamer announcing in 2020 that plans for season 3 were on indefinite hold while the series' showrunner and lead director, David Fincher, pursued other projects.

In 2023, Fincher seemed to confirm the end of Mindhunter, telling French publication Le Journal du Dimanche that while he's "very proud of the first two seasons", the viewership wasn't high enough for Netflix to "justify such an investment".

Most recently, Mindhunter's Holt McCallany said that the series could come back in the form of "three two-hour movies", saying: "I know there are writers that are working, but you know, David has to be happy with scripts."

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is now streaming on Netflix – sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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