Why To Catch A Predator was cancelled and Chris Hansen's career after

Chris Hansen and his Dateline segment To Catch a Predator is back in the spotlight 20 years after the show ended due to the release of Robert Pattinson’s new film Primetime.

Pattinson plays Hansen in the film in a role he has been touted for an Oscar for, even if the To Catch a Predator presenter has been incredibly vocal in his criticism of the film.

Hansen has yet to see the movie after refusing to sign an NDA at a screening but has slammed Pattinson’s decision not to contact him before playing the role.

Primetime releases 25 September in the US, with a massively delayed 31 October release date in the UK and several other countries.

Hansen was the host of the segment which saw him work alongside law enforcement and activist groups to entrap paedophiles who were looking to meet up with children for sex, filming him confronting them and ultimately their arrest.

The movie is based on the lead-up to the darkest moment in To Catch a Predator’s controversial history which ultimately contributed to the show being cancelled.

What was the dark incident which led To Catch a Predator to be cancelled?

The ethical and legal debate around To Catch a Predator was rife in the late 00s, as it still is today, debating whether it was doing a public good or simply profiting off offender’s attempts to meet up with children.

This debate eventually ended the show however following an incident in which Texas district attorney Bill Conradt fell for the TV show’s online sting operation in which they had an adult pretending to be a child. In 2006 Conradt had been communicating with what he believed was a 13-year-old online, sending them an explicit photograph of himself.

After he stopped communicating with the volunteer pretending to be a 13-year-old Hansen reportedly said ‘if he won't come to us, we'll go to him’, turning up at the attorney’s home to confront him after he refused to meet up with the child at the sting house.

A SWAT team entered his house and he shot himself in the head, dying within 60 minutes. His body, gun, and last words were filmed by cameras from the show, with a cop reportedly quipping ‘that’ll make good TV’.

Conradt’s estate sued Dateline, the show where To Catch a Predator appeared, for $105 million, later settling out of court.

What did Chris Hansen do after the show ended and what has he said about Pattinson’s upcoming film?

Hansen claimed the show was not cancelled because of Conradt’s death, suggesting it had simply ‘run its course’, but has rebooted it twice since.

This was first called Hansen vs Predator, and then later a second spin-off called Takedown with Chris aired on the TruBlu streaming network, a true crime network he co-founded.

Hansen has been fairly guarded when discussing the upcoming Primetime, appearing on NewsNation with Jesse Webber where he said: “We had heard that there was something like this in the works.

“They reached out to me this week, and I’ve been asked not to talk about it a great deal at this point.”

He also stated he had 'no regrets' about the sting that ended in Conradt's death, telling The Hollywood Reporter: "It was unfortunate that somebody chose to take his life rather than face criminal consequences. You can draw your own conclusions as to why."

The film is hotly anticipated, with many sharing their shock at Pattinson’s complete transformation into Hansen.

Several fans have posted side by side clips of Hansen’s voice along with Pattinson’s, with one saying on X: “LISTEN TO HOW CLOSE ROBERT PATTINSON'S VOCAL TONALITIES ARE TO CHRIS HANSEN WTF?!!!!”

Another posted a clip saying: “THE VOICE. THE DELIVERY. He’s coming for that Oscar.”

Primetime releases September 25, 2026.