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Apple TV’s Last Seen works better as a family saga than a crime thriller

Colin From Accounts' Patrick Brammall elevates the Australian drama about a dad searching for his missing child.

By Saloni Gajjar  |  September 8, 2026 | 9:00pm
Photo: Apple TV
TV Reviews Last Seen
Apple TV’s Last Seen works better as a family saga than a crime thriller

Crime dramas about missing children, while fundamentally tragic, tend to follow similar beats: Parents become overinvolved in the case because the detectives don’t take their instincts seriously, while the family or a local community with dark secrets is tied to the investigation. In the past year alone, Peacock’s All Her Fault and Netflix’s I Will Find You have delivered versions of this premise. Now joining their ranks is Apple TV’s Last Seen, which has more in common with the latter Harlan Coben adaptation than the former Emmy-nominated series. The notable differences this time are the Australian setting (a fictional, scenic coastal town called Port McKenna) and accents. 

Loosely based on Ryan David Jahn’s 2011 novel The Dispatcher, Last Seen centers on former cop-turned-emergency dispatcher Ian Ridley (Patrick Brammall), whose 3-year-old daughter was snatched from her bedroom over a decade ago. Ian’s obsession with finding a presumed-dead Maggie has turned him into an alcoholic and distanced him from everyone else in his life, including his ex-wife and stepson. When he receives a distressing 000 call—the Australian 911—from someone in a phone booth, Ian is convinced it’s his missing 14-year-old. This conviction sends him down a path that puts a lot of people in danger, including the girl he thinks is his “Mags,” who actually seems to be Sarah (Chloe Jean Lourdes), the naive child of an overly religious couple living on an isolated farm. 

The show’s commendable advantage is that, because of a tight six-episode run, it moves swiftly and quickly answers questions about the girl’s true identity. While this eliminates some of the suspense, it allows Last Seen to dig into a more compelling side of the story: the nitty-gritty emotional aspects and the psychological toll Maggie’s disappearance has continued to take on Ian and his former spouse, Debbie (Jessica Wren). Their guilt and grief manifest in different but powerful ways: Deb has remarried and is pregnant again, but the recent discovery of a child’s remains in the woods brings up her anguish all over again. 

Meanwhile, a six-months-sober Ian remains fixated on the notion that Maggie is alive and possibly nearby, based on the clues he’s found, even if nobody else believes him, including lead detective Isabel Pena (Zahra Newman). So he sets off to uncover why his young girl was taken and if Sarah really might be Maggie. 

The narrative beats of Ian’s endeavor are fairly formulaic; it’s nothing we haven’t seen on TV before—if not from the aforementioned I Will Find You, then The Missing or The Killing. Though Last Seen’s twists are well-executed, their predictability often prevents the show from building tension. Still, Brammall’s unflinching turn as a mournful, frequently bitter, yet wilful and sympathetic father grounds the series. A potent anchor, Brammall has a unique chance to showcase his range this week—the final season of his other Australian show, the endearing rom-com Colin From Accounts, comes to Paramount+ the day after Last Seen’s premiere. 

Last Seen’s other focus is Sarah’s strict parents, Henry (Brendan Cowell) and Jenna Reid (Maxine Peake), who are roped into the investigation as suspects; it doesn’t help that Henry worked as a janitor at the police station and had easy access to Maggie if he did, indeed, kidnap her. Along the way, series writer Kris Mrksa unpacks the Reids’ traditional lifestyle and the inevitable pressure they put on their homeschooled daughter—it’s why Sarah doesn’t know anything about the outside world beyond her art and piano skills. From these components, Last Seen unsuccessfully tries to make astute commentary about fanaticism, blind faith, and how religion forces people into some extreme choices. Henry’s own trauma stems from being raised by a militant father, whose late entry doesn’t do the show any favors. Last Seen also doesn’t commit to exploring Jenna’s mental health issues, which leaves Peake’s otherwise strong performance—and the show as a whole—feeling incomplete. 

As Sarah finally learns everything about basic stuff like the existence of maps and the intoxicating effects of alcohol, Lourdes believably sells her character’s complicated, vulnerable, but rushed coming-of-age. In no time, Sarah goes from a loner to realizing that a whole life exists beyond her farm animals and duties. The young actor goes toe-to-toe with Brammall, making their few scenes together the show’s highlight. 

Despite a definite conclusion, Last Seen is often frustrating because of a few ridiculous choices that its characters make. There’s confusion over who Maggie/Sarah really is, yet the topic of DNA testing is brought up and hastily shut down. Certain characters are obvious red herrings, while a penultimate flashback hour drags down the momentum. Last Seen, with its ashy visual palette, isn’t a particularly thrilling crime drama; it fares far better as a turbulent and insightful family saga. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it spins along just enough to reach a satisfying destination. 

Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club‘s TV critic. 

Last Seen premieres September 9 on Apple TV. 

 
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