Robert Pattinson will play Hansen in an upcoming film, “Primetime.”

Where is Chris Hansen now? Here’s what happened after To Catch a Predator

Robert Pattinson will play Hansen in an upcoming film, "Primetime."

May 28, 2026 4:08 p.m. ET

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Chris Hansen on 'To Catch a Predator'; Hansen in the 2025 documentary 'Predators'. Credit:

NBC; MTV Documentary Films/YouTube

"Have a seat..." It might be the darkest catchphrase in TV history, and it's returning to the lexicon with the upcoming release of the A24 thriller *Primetime*.

Robert Pattinson stars in Lance Oppenheim's upcoming film as Chris Hansen, the former host of NBC's controversial series *To Catch a Predator*, which collaborated with law enforcement to lure and arrest would-be sexual predators who believed they were meeting up with pre-teen and teenage victims for sex.

*To Catch a Predator* began as a *Dateline* segment before spinning off into its own program, which ran on NBC from 2003 to 2007. The series was a massive hit, drawing over 7 million viewers on average in its final year, per *The New York Times*.

Produced in partnership with the organization Perverted-Justice, *To Catch a Predator* utilized paid actors and law enforcement officers who posed as underaged teens and engaged in conversations online with adult men. When the men arrived to meet their would-be victims, they were instead greeted by Hansen, who asked them to "have a seat" so he could interview them about their motives. When the men left the house, they were sometimes apprehended by law enforcement.

NBC canceled the series in 2008. Although the network never provided an official reason, concerns grew regarding the ethics of the production. In 2006, during an investigation in Murphy, Tex., *To Catch a Predator* attempted to lure lawyer Bill Conradt to a sting house. When Conradt failed to appear, the production relocated to his house with law enforcement in tow. Conradt died by suicide as SWAT entered his home. His estate sued NBC, which later settled out of court.

After *To Catch a Predator* was canceled, Hansen continued his unorthodox mission to take down would-be sexual predators in the years that followed. Here's what Hansen has been up to since the series ended.

Hansen continued hosting crime shows

Chris Hansen on 'To Catch a Predator'.

In 2015, after NBC chose not to renew his contract, Hansen was tapped to host the Investigation Discovery series *Killer Instinct*. Each episode of the series examined a different homicide case, with Hansen interviewing key witnesses, victims, and members of law enforcement.

Hansen spoke with ** in 2017 ahead of the third season, which ended up being the series' last. "I mean, crime doesn’t stop. And I suppose there’s job security in that," Hansen said somewhat presciently of his continuing presence on TV.

Hansen was hired to host the syndicated program *Crime Watch Daily* in 2016, starting with the second season. In addition to hosting the series, which reported on various ongoing investigations, Hansen debuted an independent version of *To Catch a Predator*, *Hansen vs. Predator,* as a recurring segment. The show ended in 2018 after three seasons.

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He has tried to revive To Catch a Predator in different formats

Chris Hansen in an episode of 'Have a Seat With Chris Hansen'.

Chris Hansen/YouTube

Hansen launched a YouTube channel in 2019 called *Have a Seat With Chris Hansen*. On the channel, which remains active, Hansen interviews and investigates alleged sexual predators. He also discusses various cases with special guests. When Hansen debuted his next TV series, *Takedown With Chris Hansen* in 2022, he began hosting additional content and Q&As related to the series on his YouTube channel.

In *Takedown*, Hansen returns to the familiar interview format of *To Catch a Predator*, confronting and interviewing would-be predators for his own streaming network, TruBlu. The show's official description touts Hansen's successful pursuit of "would-be sex criminals": "Over the past two decades, Chris Hansen's investigations have led to hundreds of would-be sex criminals being stopped in their tracks. Amazingly, after 500 arrests and hundreds of millions of video views, men continue to try to meet children online. So, his mission continues."

Hansen's mission indeed continues, as he is still producing episodes of *Takedown*. In 2025, Hansen collaborated with police in Harford County, Md., on a sting operation that resulted in the arrests of nine men who were believed to be meeting minors for sexual encounters. One of them, according to PEOPLE, allegedly remarked in a text message to a deputy he believed was a 14-year-old girl that he was worried he'd "see Chris Hansen from the show [*To*] *Catch a Predator *there waiting for him."

He’s inspired self-styled vigilantes to follow in his footsteps

Chris Hansen in the documentary 'Predators'.

MTV Documentary Films

In the years since its cancellation, *To Catch a Predator*'s influence has endured and is at least partially responsible for numerous self-styled vigilantes who conduct amateur investigations into potential online predators. The 2025 documentary *Predators* reflects on the seismic popularity of the NBC series and the citizen vigilantes who continue Hansen's "mission," often publishing videos of their investigations and confrontations of suspects on YouTube.

Director David Osit interviews multiple people involved with *To Catch a Predator*, including those who acted as decoys to lure would-be predators to sting houses for the production. Dan Schrack, the actor who exchanged messages with Conradt in the Murphy, Tex., investigation, has since expressed regret over his involvement in the sting, which led to Conradt's death. "You could offer me $10 million to film that episode in Texas again," Schrack says, "I wouldn't take it. I would not take it and be happy about that decision."

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Hansen is also interviewed in the documentary. "Some people may feel like you have something to answer for, that this genre of TV you've helped make doesn't deter criminals or get to the bottom of their crimes, it just helps us enjoy it," Osit says, addressing Hansen directly. "And I mean documentaries, too, so I'm not just coming after you here. But we make TV, and we point cameras at something, and the trauma continues. What do you say to that?"

"I understand your point, and it's a valid point," Hansen responds. "But you don't know how many times someone has come up to me at a store, at a restaurant, on the street, and said to me, 'Thank you for what you do. I was victimized by an adult when I was a child, traumatized in a way that has forced me to be in therapy to this very day. And every time you confront a predator, it makes me feel better.' I understand people saying, 'You push it too far. You take a man at his worst and you put him on television, and you shame him.' I'm okay with that. I'll take that criticism."

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Source: “EW Documentary”