We took it really hard when season two of The Missing came to an end. Like, really hard. So, now that time has passed and the dust has settled, we’ve kept our ears to the ground to trying to catch wind of what on earth is going to happen next.
Here’s what we know so far…
(And yes. There are spoilers. We’ve tried not to divulge too much, but there are a fair few. You have been warned.)
A quick recap: what happens in series 1 of The Missing?
If we go right back to the beginning, five-year-old Oliver goes missing while on a family holiday to France. His dad Tony loses him when they visit a busy bar and he is soon completely overcome with trying to find him. Fast forward eight years and still no Oliver, the case is closed and it’s all not looking very promising.
If we skim through the middle (as if you needed an excuse to go and re-watch it) to when this series wraps up, we find out that Oliver had actually followed a fox into the road and got run over, didn’t die but was then killed to cover up the accident. Apparently. But then there was that weird flashforward to Russia when a distraught Tony is convinced that he’s found his son.
What happened to James Nesbitt?
You mean Tony? We don’t know. He doesn’t appear in the second series, and if you were anywhere near Twitter when the first episode of the second series aired, you'll know he was sorely missed by well, everyone.
And what happens in the second series?
Julien returned to our screens, that’s what! Oh, and there’s that rather confusing flashback between now and 2014 that went on…
Series two is all about Alice Webster who went missing back in 2003. But in 2014 the police tell Alice’s parents that she’s reappeared after apparently being held captive with a French girl called Sophie Giroux who went missing at around the same time. You see, Julien was in charge of Sophie’s case but couldn’t help getting involved in Alice’s case too even though he had technically retired by now.
Skimming through the drama in the middle a bit (you were going to re-watch it anyway) Julien solves the case, of course. Alice is found. But if you want a full play by play of what went down in that final episode, though, we’ve got what you need right here.
Is The Missing based on a true story?
We don’t think the specific cases of Sophie Giroux, Alice Webster and Oliver to directly based on individual IRL missing child cases, per say. But writers Harry and Jack Williams have said that real life cases did influence the series.
The biggest influences were apparently the Ariel Castro kidnappings in Ohio (three young women were held captive by Ariel until one woman managed to escape and contacted the police) and the case of Natascha Kampush, an Austrian girl who was abducted in 1998 and kept prisoner for eight years, reports the Mirror.
Wait, so who is Julien Baptiste?
Who is Julien Baptiste? Who are YOU?! Just kidding. Kind of. Julien is a French missing persons detective who appears in both series one and two of The Missing. He is the lead investigator in the cases in each series.
Without giving it all away, he’s particularly troubled by Alice’s case because of an elaborate back story that involves promises made to Sophie Giroux’s dad and his conviction that all the cases are connected.
The last episode of the second series ends with Julien counting down to three while on an operating table waiting for surgery (he’d been suffering from a brain tumour throughout the series) before the scene cuts. Will he make it? Will he survive? We don’t know. But he’s ‘made of the strong stuff’ so here’s hoping. Also, a third series just wouldn’t be the same without him. Speaking of which…
How many episodes of The Missing are there?
There are 16 episodes in total, eight episodes in each series. Sounds like ample Sunday night binge material to me.
Is The Missing on Netflix?
Erm, yeah. About that. Afraid not. And it's not available on BBC iPlayer just yet. But all is not lost. You can buy and download the series from iTunes or the BBC Store and watch it all whenever you fancy.
When is the third series of The Missing?
I hate to say it, but there’s nothing to confirm that there’s definitely going to be another series. I know. I’m so sorry. Harry and Jack Williams, the writers behind the show, told Digital Spy that there might not ever be a third series. Ever. Sob.
Harry said: ‘There’s Godfather I and Godfather II… and third ones are really hard to get right. The second one’s hard, but the third one’s even harder and you don’t want to leave a bad taste in the mouth.’ All very good points, to be fair. But it doesn’t make us want another series any less.
On the other hand though, Jack also said: ‘Is there a world where Baptiste comes back in his own show and it’s not The Missing? We haven’t decided at all, but I think if we found the right form to get us excited again, we’d do it.’ So it’s not all bad news.
Like this? You might also be interested in…
What Does The OA Stand For? And All The Other Things WeNeed Explained.
Everything You Need To Know About ‘This Is Us’ If You’ve Only Just Caught On To It
Everything That Happened In The Final Episode Of The Missing
Follow Jazmin on Twitter @JazKopotsha
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.