If you’ve heard of David Morrissey, you’re probably a die-hard fan of The Walking Dead.
And anything to do with bloody zombies, violent rebellion and severed limbs.
But the actor’s role in Season 2 of crime-drama The Missing brags a far more realistic concept: one that hits far closer to home.
Listen to David Morrissey explain why The Missing will be your new TV addiction on The Binge.
Season One of The Missing premiered in the UK back in 2014.
It follows Emily and Tony, parents of five-year-old Oliver, all whom travel to Northern France for a holiday in 2006.
When Tony and Oliver visit a crowded outdoor bar to watch a FIFA World Cup quarter final match, Oliver disappears. The family-holiday-turned-nightmare spirals as the parents scramble to track down their boy.
But they have no luck.
Eight years later, following a failed police investigation, Tony approaches retired private investigator Julien Baptiste. And they re-open the case.
It’s gripping, to say the least. Mystery at its absolute best.
Season Two brings in an entirely new cast, and follows an entirely new story... while maintaining the same blueprint: espionage and mystery, with one family at the centre of it all.
Read: TV’s greatest villain reveals the one question every fan asks him.
And, while just as thrilling as the first, it stands alone. You can jump on the Season Two bandwagon without having to play catch-up.
Last week, David Morrissey spoke to Mamamia about his upcoming role as patriarch of the central family in Season Two.
"I play a British soldier based in Germany. His daughter, when she was thirteen... is abducted", Morrissey tells Tiffany Dunk and Laura Brodnik on The Binge.
The show turns the average crime-drama on its head. Because the daughter going missing is by no means the roughest thing the protagonist family faces.
Rather, her return is.
"The story starts really eleven years later, when she walks back into their life."
"Her return is really the most devastating thing that happens to this family", Morrissey says. "You have these dreams and wishes about when this person will return but when she does return... it's fractious. It breaks this family apart."
The element of mystery in the show stems from the very fact that after being 'missing' for eleven years, she simply returns: wanders into the town's central square battered, bruised and eerily emotionless without any recollection of where she's been.
"When this girl [Morrissey's daughter in the series] comes back, it's all about accusation - is there someone in the community who has done this? Or helped it happen?" says Morrissey.
"It tears the community apart."
Morrissey, a parent himself, says the show plays on "that fear we always have as parents" - that one day, you're child might not make it home from school.
The daughter's disappearance is one of the many mysteries that hovers over the multi-timeline drama.
"You're chasing it all the time", says Morrissey.
"I suddenly have this terrible scar on my face - this burn - and down my back... the detective, Julien Baptiste [the only character to reprise his role from the first season], has suddenly got his head shaved, not looking very well... it's constantly asking you questions about what's going on."
There are so many things right about this show. It does the basics with class - sublime acting, an engaging story, and beautiful camerawork - but on top of that. It has something else; a certain 'x-factor'.
It poses a lot of questions. We know everything we see is linked in some way or another - the daugher's re-appearance; mention of her still-missing co-captive, Sophie Giroux; detective Julien Baptiste's lead investigative across multiple timelines - we know it's all linked. But we're not sure how.
The answers are within reach. So close we can almost touch them.
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But director Tom Shankland dangles them ever-so-slightly out of our reach. on a beautiful precipice between obvious and unattainable.
"You're chasing it all the time", says Morrissey.
We may be chasing the plot, and the characters, and the drama throughout the entire season. But according to the acting legend - with one of the most enticing voices on television - it's all worth it.
"It has a really satisfying ending", he promises.
We can't wait to get our teeth stuck in.
The Missing Season Two premieres Sunday 5 March at 8:30pm on Foxtel. You can find out more, here.
Top Comments
James Nisbet was in the first one.wonderfull series
Both seasons are awesome!!