Mindhunter: The Musical could have worked, and we’re still here for it

Let’s remember that Mindhunter: The Musical was a thing.

Since the Netflix series was headlined by Tony nominee Jonathan Groff, it was pretty common for folks to suggest a musical escapade for the serial killer drama. Anyone who’s heard Groff sing—on Glee, in Frozen, or in Spring Awakening to name a few—knows he has incredible vocal talent, and his Mindhunter co-stars have some pretty good pipes, too.

Plus, when you think about it, the show is pretty well-suited for the stage. A lot of it takes place with only two or three actors talking in rooms for long periods of time, and those interviews are very much written like a play. Sure, the singing might be a little hard to finesse, but we’ve had a few musicals involving murder before. (Remember Sweeney Todd, which swept all the major Tony categories in 1979?)

So for a while, people tossed around the idea of Mindhunter: The Musical. Josh Gad brought it up during the Frozen 2 press tour. Stephen Colbert even had Groff perform a full-on tune as Holden Ford during a 2017 interview, which is one of the best things that’s ever come out of The Late Show.

There hasn’t been any buzz about the idea since, but just thinking about Mindhunter as a musical brings a small bit of joy. Usually when people throw out these kinds of wild ideas, it’s a funny thing that we all chuckle about. But this one is both strange and actually making a whole lot of sense, considering the talent involved and how there’s a decently plausible story.

A Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany duet alone would be worth the price of admission. Could you imagine Cameron Britton as Ed Kemper, performing a creepy but heartfelt solo about murdering his mother? Michael Cerveris, who portrayed the BSU’s boss Ted Gunn in season 2, has two Tony Awards so we’d have to have a number where Gunn chews out Holden and Bill Tench in song.

The musical writes itself if you start to think about it.

Even if it’s a one-off thing (like how the Smash team staged a production of their show-within-a-show in 2015 for charity), it would be awesome to see somebody find a way to bring Holden and Bill’s adventures to the stage. Creator and first-season showrunner Joe Penhall also wrote the book for an Olivier Award-winning musical…so maybe if we’re not getting a season 3, this could be the next Mindhunter project in the works?