Shows Like
Shows Like Mindhunter: Crime Investigations
By Jordan A. · · 8 min read
Mindhunter is a show about obsession, but it's obsession in the service of something legitimate - understanding how human beings become killers. Jonathan Groff plays Holden Ford, a young FBI agent who pioneers criminal profiling in the 1970s by systematically interviewing imprisoned serial killers to understand their psychology. The show is methodical almost to a fault - each episode builds on the last, each interview reveals something new, and you watch these agents become consumed by understanding the criminal mind. If you're looking for shows like Mindhunter, you want psychological complexity, deliberate pacing, gorgeous cinematography, and investigations that are less about solving a crime than understanding how crime happens.
What makes Mindhunter special is how it treats criminal psychology as a serious intellectual pursuit. These aren't cowboys chasing bad guys. They're academics trying to develop a science of criminal behavior. The show doesn't glamorize violence - it examines it clinically, which is somehow more disturbing than any shootout could be. The shows I'm recommending below share that commitment to exploring the criminal mind methodically, to understanding behavior rather than just punishing it.
Psychological Crime Dramas With Methodical Investigations
Hannibal is a psychological thriller that explores the relationship between an FBI profiler and a serial killer who becomes his psychiatrist. It's less procedural than Mindhunter and more purely psychological thriller, but it shares that obsessive focus on understanding criminal psychology. Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal is terrifying because he's articulate and intelligent, not because he's violent.
The Fall is a British-Irish crime drama about a detective (Stella Gibson, played with brilliant intensity by Gillian Anderson) hunting a serial killer in Belfast. You know who the killer is from episode one - the show is about the cat-and-mouse game between detective and criminal. It's slower and more methodical than typical crime dramas, building understanding rather than mystery.
True Detective season 1 follows two detectives investigating a ritualistic murder in rural Louisiana, but it's structured as a questioning of those detectives decades later. It's less about solving the crime than understanding how obsession with the case transformed these men. Matthew McConaughey's Rust Cohle is brilliant but spiritually broken.
The Killing is a Danish crime series about detectives hunting a serial killer through Copenhagen. It's deliberately paced, methodically building atmosphere and understanding through repetition. Characters take the same routes, retrace steps, and gradually understand patterns. Sarah Lund is obsessive in ways that are genuinely pathological.
Shows About Criminal Profilers and Behavioral Analysis
Criminal Minds is more episodic and lighter in tone than Mindhunter, but it's built on the same foundation - an FBI team of behavioral analysis experts understanding criminals through psychology. It's been running for sixteen seasons, which means there's massive amounts of content if you want deep dives into criminal psychology mixed with procedural storytelling.
Clarice is about FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Silence of the Lambs fans, yes that Clarice) after the events of that film, continuing her work in behavioral analysis and forensics. It's less prestige than Mindhunter and more procedural, but it captures that sense of a brilliant young woman obsessed with understanding criminal psychology.
The Outsider is a limited series about a detective investigating a crime that increasingly seems impossible to have been committed by a normal human. It's moody and paranoid, and while it's not explicitly about profiling, it shares that sense of investigators trying to understand something that defies rational explanation.
Sense8 - wait, that's not remotely appropriate for this list. Let me offer Broadchurch instead, which is about a detective investigating a murder in a small English village. While it's less psychological than Mindhunter, it shares that methodical approach to investigation and that sense of a detective consumed by the need to understand.
Shows About the Psychology of Evil
Dexter (especially the first four seasons) is about a serial killer working for Miami Metro Police, using his position to solve crimes while hiding his own murders. Michael C. Hall plays Dexter with cold precision, and the show explores the psychology of someone without empathy trying to perform normalcy. It's darker and more morally compromised than Mindhunter.
You is a psychological thriller told from the perspective of a stalker and serial killer. It's less about understanding criminal psychology clinically and more about experiencing it from the killer's point of view. Penn Badgley plays Joe Goldberg as someone convinced of his own rationality while doing terrible things.
Killing Eve is about an MI6 agent and a psychopath playing a psychological cat-and-mouse game. Jodie Comer plays Villanelle, a serial killer who is charming and intelligent, and the show is obsessed with the relationship between hunter and hunted. It's darker and more comedic than Mindhunter, but it shares the psychological focus.
Ozark is about the psychology of survival and moral decay rather than criminals specifically. Jason Bateman plays an accountant increasingly consumed by drug trade violence, and the show understands how circumstances transform people. It's more about escalating tension than understanding criminal behavior scientifically.
Methodical Investigations Into Deviance
Mare of Easttown is a limited series about a small-town detective investigating a murder. Kate Winslet plays Mare Moore with understated intensity, and the show builds understanding through conversation and observation rather than revelation and action. It's slower than procedurals, letting you sit with ambiguity.
Sharp Objects is about a journalist investigating murders in her hometown while slowly uncovering trauma in her family. Amy Adams plays Camille, and the show intercuts past and present as she tries to understand violence and psychology. It's less purely procedural and more psychological thriller.
The Night Stalker is a limited series following a detective hunting a serial killer in 1980s Los Angeles. It's grounded and procedural, showing the actual work of investigation rather than dramatizing it. Evan Peters brings intensity to a detective gradually understanding he's chasing something he can't stop.
Zodiac - that's a film, not a series. For a similar vibe, Mindhunter's predecessor in spirit would be The X-Files, which features agents investigating cases that defy conventional explanation. While it's more sci-fi conspiracy than true crime, it shares that obsessive commitment to understanding the inexplicable.
Shows About Intellectual Obsession and Behavioral Understanding
The Wire is about institutional crime as a systemic problem rather than individual psychology, but it shares Mindhunter's commitment to detailed understanding and methodical storytelling. Characters study patterns, analyze behavior, and try to build systems to address corruption. It's sociology rather than psychology, but the rigor is similar.
Bosch follows a Los Angeles detective investigating murders over multiple seasons. It's more procedural than Mindhunter and doesn't go as deep into psychology, but it captures that sense of a detective consumed by the need to understand crimes and seek justice. Titus Welliver is solid and consistent.
Homicide: Life on the Street is a 90s procedural that pioneered realistic depictions of detective work. It's lighter in tone than Mindhunter and less focused on psychology, but it understands that investigation is about understanding people rather than just solving puzzles. The dialogue is sharp and character-driven.
Fargo (especially season 1) is about detectives investigating a kidnapping that spirals into multiple murders. Steve Buscemi and Frances McDormand investigate with quiet competence, and the show understands criminal motivation through character rather than through psychological analysis.
Prestige Dramas About Obsessive Men
Severance is science fiction rather than crime drama, but it shares Mindhunter's commitment to slow-burn tension and psychological complexity. Adam Scott plays a man obsessed with understanding the truth about his job, and the show builds atmosphere and meaning through repetition and detail.
The Leftovers is a supernatural drama, but it's fundamentally about people obsessed with understanding loss and mystery. Justin Theroux plays a chief of police trying to understand what happened to people who disappeared, and the show understands obsession as a consuming force.
Succession is about corporate families rather than crime, but it shares that same commitment to character development and understanding human motivation. The characters are obsessed with power the way Mindhunter's characters are obsessed with criminal psychology.
Halt and Catch Fire is about the early computer industry and entrepreneurs obsessed with creation and competition. It's not crime-focused, but it captures that same sense of brilliant people consumed by their need to understand and create something new.
What Mindhunter understands is that understanding crime requires patience, intelligence, and the willingness to sit with discomfort. You don't solve crimes by action - you solve them through conversation, analysis, and the slow accumulation of understanding. The shows I'm recommending share that commitment to intellectual rigor and psychological complexity.
Ready to dive into more psychological crime dramas and investigations into human behavior? Check out BingeNext's TV recommendations and search for criminal psychology, psychological thrillers, and procedural crime dramas. You'll find shows that understand human behavior as the most complex mystery of all.
The best crime dramas aren't about who did it - they're about why they did it and what that reveals about human nature. Mindhunter is brilliant because it treats that question seriously. Now go find something that will make you think about the human mind in deeply unsettling ways.
If you want a shortlist tailored to your taste, try BingeNext's TV recommendation engine. Tell it a few shows you love and it does the rest in about thirty seconds.
Topics covered: crime-thriller, psychology, investigation, drama, dark, netflix
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About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and writes every guide on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu, and he still tests every pick the hard way: by watching it.