FBI Agents Think Like Serial Killers in Netflix's 'Mindhunter'

The modern version of the FBI was founded while hunting down John Dillinger, a notorious gangster who, despite his crimes, was only ever convicted of one homicide. So, when the FBI was eventually confronted with the senseless violence of serial killers, the Bureau had to adjust. A trailer for Netflix’s upcoming serial killer and FBI drama, Mindhunter, premiered on Tuesday, giving a more in-depth look at Joe Penhall’s (House of Cards) latest project in partnership with Netflix. Mindhunter will sweep its characters up in the FBI’s attempts to understand and utilize the disturbed minds of serial killers.

The series, based loosely on John Douglas and Mark Olshaker’s 1995 book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, follows Jonathan Groff’s (Frozen, Glee, American Sniper) Agent Holden Ford as he studies the minds of serial killers to better help the FBI catch those still at large. But his work begins to affect his personal life, changing not only the way he views himself but the way he views other people, especially women.

“Psychopaths are convinced there’s nothing wrong with them, so these men are virtually impossible to study,” Anna Torv’s Wendy Carr says in the trailer. “Yet you have found a way in near-perfect laboratory conditions. That’s what makes this so exciting and potentially so far-reaching.”

Mindhunter Season 1 premieres on Netflix on October 13.