Apple TV's 6-Part Mindhunter-Like Crime Series Will Introduce A Whole New Subgenre

Published Oct 11, 2026, 11:30 PM EDT

Dhruv is a Lead Writer in Screen Rant's New TV division. He has been consistently contributing to the website for over two years and has written thousands of articles covering streaming trends, movie/TV analysis, and pop culture breakdowns.
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A new Mindhunter-esque crime thriller series is set to premiere on Apple TV soon. The show, in question, will serve as a six-episode miniseries. However, despite its short runtime, it will manage to popularize a whole new subgenre of crime storytelling. The upcoming series, titled Dustfall, is based on the 2022 crime thriller novel The Unbelieved by Vikki Petraitis.

With Anna Torv and Juliet Stevenson as its leads, Dustfall premieres on October 11, 2026, on ABC Television. Apple TV has acquired the distribution rights for the series, and it is set to land on the streaming service in 2027. Considering how Emmy Award nominee Anna Torv (of the Mindhunter fame) is one of its leads, the upcoming crime thriller already looks promising.

Even its source material, The Unbelieved, is highly acclaimed and has also won many literary awards. It also boasts a 4.2 out of 5 rating on Goodreads. However, what makes the show even more intriguing is that it is not a typical noir thriller. It seemingly dabbles with a whole new subgenre that has hardly been explored by other crime thrillers out there.

What Is Tropic Noir & How Does Dustfall Belong To It?

Traditional noir is usually cold in tone, relying on moody, rain-slicked backgrounds and darker visuals. In terms of themes, tropic noir is very similar to the traditional depiction of the subgenre. However, it changes the setting to a tropical or subtropical landscape. While retaining the cynicism of the subgenre, tropic noir instills discomfort in viewers through intense weather patterns like seasonal dust and sweltering heat.

The visuals in traditional noir perfectly align with gritty themes and story beats. In tropic noir, there is a clear contrast between the sun-soaked beauty of bright settings and the hidden rot and violence that festers below the surface. Dustfall is particularly being marketed as a tropic noir series, and its plot details suggest it perfectly fits the bill.

The show is set and filmed in regional Australia, following the crime-solving endeavors of seasoned detective, Antigone “Tig” Pollard. Like a typical tropic noir, Dustfall will seemingly create the perfect juxtaposition​​​​​​​ between its sun-scorched regional setting and the central detective's investigation of a harrowing sexual assault case.

It would be interesting to see how the upcoming Apple TV show will etch its own identity in the crime thriller genre with its inclination towards a lesser known subgenre. While it could still fall into many genre tropes and conventions, its tropic noir elements could make it seem distinct.

Noir Is Making A Big Comeback (Tropic Or Otherwise)

Not a lot of crime dramas intentionally attempt to market themselves as tropic noir thrillers. However, when it comes to noir as a whole, it is seemingly making a comeback and becoming more and more mainstream again. For instance, Spider-Noir​​​​​​​ mashed pulp superhero themes with classic noir archetypes by delivering a gritty, monochrome subversion of classic detective fiction and hard-boiled crime stories.

Touted as the True Detective of superhero shows, HBO's Lanterns treads a similar path by grounding a massive comic book IP into a small-town murder mystery. The show perfectly embraces the procedural noir structure while ensuring that it captures the cosmic scale of the original Green Lantern universe.

Another acclaimed addition to noir has been Apple TV's Sugar, which leans into classic Hollywood cinema history​​​​​​​ while gradually building up to a shocking extraterrestrial twist. Even when it comes to movies, Netflix has been churning out neo-noir westerns like Rebel Ridge that highlight how flexible the crime thriller subgenre can be.

Noir's growing relevance in recent years makes Apple TV's Mindhunter-like series, Dustfall, even more exciting.

Dustfall

Dustfall is a crime thriller centered on detective Tig's return to her hometown of North Gap. Tasked with investigating a series of drink-spiking assaults, her efforts complicate when the primary suspect is discovered murdered, challenging her pursuit of justice. Released on October 11, 2026.