Netflix's 3-Part 'Se7en Meets Mindhunter' Thriller Show Earned Its Perfect RT Score

While Netflix has a lot of iconic psychological thriller shows for viewers to choose from, only one could be described as a blend of Mindhunter and Se7en. From Hannibal to Criminal Minds, there are plenty of TV shows that focus on the controversial science of criminal psychology. These shows explore the ways that criminal profilers seek out killers by observing existing patterns among murderers, often even interviewing the notorious criminals themselves in the process.

One of the best shows in this genre, Netflix’s masterpiece Mindhunter, took this premise a step further. Set long before the Thomas Harris adaptation The Silence of the Lambs brought knowledge of criminal psychology to the mainstream, the dark thriller series is based on the non-fiction book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit. Mindhunter followed Jonathan Groff’s Holden Ford and Holt McCallany’s Bill Tench as the pair sought to catch one infamous serial killer by interviewing numerous notorious murderers.

Mindhunter’s setup, following a pair of very different cops as they investigated a string of grisly murders, would be familiar to anyone who was a fan of the show’s executive producer, David Fincher. Fincher directed an iconic 1995 serial killer thriller, Se7en, that followed much the same format with its story of a theatrical killer who utilizes the Seven Deadly Sins in his twisted murders. In 2021, Netflix combined the premises of Mindhunter and Se7en in the Danish crime miniseries The Chestnut Man, a psychological thriller about a strange murderer and the cops pursuing them.

The Chestnut Man’s Intense Serial Killer Story Revived An Iconic Thriller Subgenre

A lot of great psychological thriller shows, like Prime Video’s remake of Dead Ringers, focus on main characters who are not cops as a way to expand the horizons of the genre. However, The Chestnut Man, adapted from the book of the same name by Danish author Søren Sveistrup, took the opposite approach. The series revived the classic Se7en-style serial killer thriller format that became wildly popular in the ‘90s after the release of The Silence of the Lambs at the start of the decade.

These movies usually focused on methodical killers with weird, unique M.Os, and The Cell, Copycat, Cure, The Bone Collector, Along Came A Spider, Jill Rips, Kiss the Girls, Fallen, Frailty, Hannibal, and Taking Lives were just a few examples of the trend. Like Prime Video’s later Scarpetta, The Chestnut Man spends as much screen time exploring the psychological nuances of the flawed antiheroes pursuing the eponymous killer as the murderer themselves.

The Chestnut Man's Unpredictable Ending Makes The Crime Thriller A Perfect Binge

As the title implies, The Chestnut Man centers on a killer whose creepy calling card is the strange, eerie chestnut figurines they leave beside the corpses of their victims. Danica Curcic’s police investigator, Naia Thulin, is tasked with tracking down this killer, with the help and hindrance of Mikkel Boe Følsgaard’s Europol agent, Mark Hess. The pair scour Copenhagen in search of an explanation for these methodical murders.

Although the disappearance of the daughter of a prominent local politician initially gives the pair a promising lead, it is not until The Chestnut Man’s twist ending that the entire story comes to light. Like any of the classic serial killer thrillers from the ‘90s that inspired the series, The Chestnut Man has a killer reveal that changes everything viewers thought they knew about the story of the series.

Taut, disturbing, and original, with a twist ending that demands a re-watch, The Chestnut Man is practically precision engineered for binge-watching. The show’s blend of Mindhunter’s procedural profiling and Se7en’s gruesome, inventive kills makes The Chestnut Man an obvious must-watch for Netflix fans, and this makes the arrival of May 2026’s sequel series, The Chestnut Man: Hide and Seek, all the more exciting.