Apple TV is heading back to Australia for its next crime thriller, with “Last Seen” set to premiere globally on September 9, 2026. The series stars Patrick Brammall as a former police detective whose daughter vanished more than a decade earlier, turning what begins as a missing-person mystery into a much more personal story about grief, obsession and the difficulty of letting go.
Adapted from Ryan David Jahn’s novel “The Dispatcher,” “Last Seen” follows Ian Ridley, played by Brammall, 11 years after the disappearance of his young daughter Maggie. Ridley is no longer working as a detective and has instead become a police dispatcher, but he remains convinced that his daughter could still be alive.
That belief suddenly becomes harder to dismiss when Ridley answers a distress call from a teenage girl and becomes certain the voice belongs to Maggie. The call sends him searching for answers while reopening a case — and family trauma — that has shaped more than a decade of his life.
It is familiar territory for the crime-thriller genre, where long-dormant disappearances have become a reliable way of mixing procedural mysteries with character-driven drama. “Last Seen” appears to be leaning particularly heavily into the psychological consequences of that premise. The central question may not simply be whether Ridley is right, but how far someone can trust their own judgment after spending 11 years refusing to accept the most painful explanation.
Brammall, known for “Colin from Accounts” and “Evil,” leads an ensemble that includes Maxine Peake, Brendan Cowell, Daniel Henshall, Zahra Newman, Jessica Wren and Tobias Muhafidin. The series also introduces newcomer Chloe Jean Lourdes.
Kris Mrksa adapted Jahn’s novel for television and serves as an executive producer. Christian Schwochow, whose previous credits include “The Crown,” “Bad Banks” and “Munich: The Edge of War,” directs and executive produces. Jamie Laurenson and Hakan Kousetta executive produce through 60Forty Films, alongside Joanna Werner of Werner Film Productions.
The production was filmed entirely in Victoria, continuing Apple TV’s investment in Australian productions and talent. It also gives the streamer another thriller to sit alongside shows including “Slow Horses,” “Hijack” and “Down Cemetery Road,” though whether “Last Seen” can distinguish itself in an increasingly crowded field of missing-person mysteries will depend heavily on its handling of Ridley’s uncertainty and Brammall’s performance.
Apple TV will release the first two episodes of “Last Seen” on Wednesday, September 9. New episodes will then arrive weekly on Wednesdays through October 7, giving the mystery a five-week rollout rather than dropping the full story at once.
For a series built around an unanswered phone call and an 11-year-old disappearance, that weekly schedule could prove particularly well suited to keeping viewers debating whether Ridley has finally found the break he has been waiting for — or is hearing what he desperately wants to hear.
