Calling all Harlan Coben fans! Production on the mystery writer's upcoming Netflix thriller, Missing You, is currently underway in Manchester and is set to arrive on our screens in 2026.
The series boasts a stacked cast, including Happy Valley's Steve Pemberton, The Girl Before actress Jessica Plummer, Slow Horses' Rosalind Eleazar, and Richard Armitage, who previously starred in Coben's The Stranger, Stay Close, and most recently, Fool Me Once.
Also starring in the drama are Lenny Henry (Three Little Birds), Paul Kaye (The Stranger), Samantha Spiro (Sex Education), Lisa Faulkner (Unforgotten), and Mary Malone (Doctor Who).
Rounding out the cast are Charlie Hamblett, Oscar Kennedy, Brigid Zengeni, Catherine Ayers, Felix Garcia Guyer and Jo Martin.
© Matt Squire/NetflixSo, what's the show about?
The plot follows police officer Detective Kat Donovan, whose fiancé disappeared without a trace over a decade ago. One day, whilst swiping on a dating app, he suddenly appears.
Intrigued? Here's the full synopsis: "Eleven years ago Detective Kat Donovan's fiancé Josh – the love of her life – disappeared and she's never heard from him since.
© Dave Benett"Now, swiping profiles on a dating app, she suddenly sees his face and her world explodes all over again. Josh’s reappearance will force her to dive back into the mystery surrounding her father’s murder and uncover long-buried secrets from her past."
Chatting about the new series at Next on Netflix 2024, Jessica, who stars as Kat, shared details on the plot. "So we follow Kat Donovan, who is a police officer and there's two stories in one. It's a classic thriller in the sense that it's someone with secrets," she told HELLO! and other press.
© BBC Studios/James StackThe show's writer and executive producer, Victoria Asare-Archer, added: "So you're constantly second-guessing everything. Lots of twists and turns. It's a woman whose boyfriend disappeared 11 years ago and was never seen again. She opens a dating app one day and boom, he's there - it kind of opens this door to her past. It's about her lost boyfriend and also the tragic death of her father."
On how Missing You differs from other Coben adaptations, Asare-Archer said: "Harlan Coben knows how to make a thriller that both entertains and engages and is beautiful to watch and full of incredible actors. They're just a great experience and this hopefully is going to feel quite different to the rest in the sense of this is the fifth Harlan Coben UK production.
"They all have a slightly different tone, a slightly different feel. This is the first one set in a city. It's only five episodes, so it's really centred around one character so that makes it just so intense and emotional and characterful. It's slightly different in tone but very much got the classic Harlan Coben thriller feel."
Sean Spencer is taking on directing duties, with Isher Sahota serving as second director. Executive producers are Coben, Nicola Shindler, Richard Fee, Asare-Archer, and Danny Brocklehurst. Guy Hescott is the producer.
Missing You follows the huge success of Fool Me Once, which premiered in January and is Netflix's top ten most popular English language TV shows to date.
