Last Seen is the 'gripping' new thriller now streaming on Apple TV — and one star teases emotional storyline is 'heading somewhere you won't have anticipated'

Ian looks at a computer screen while wearing a headset
Patrick Brammall stars as Ian Ridley in Apple's new absorbing crime thriller (Image credit: Apple TV)

If you really know your stuff about streaming services, you'll know that Apple TV is the home of consistently high-quality content — and its new Australian thriller Last Seen is no exception.

Based on Ryan David Jahn's novel The Dispatcher, we follow emergency dispatcher — and secret alcoholic — Ian Ridley (Patrick Brammall), who receives a call about a body found near his home. He thinks it may be his daughter, who went missing 11 years ago.

For those who have already read the book, there are a few big changes for its TV adaptation: most notably, that it's now set Down Under, not in Texas. Even so, a seemingly never-ending web of twists and turns is still set to unfold.

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With the first two episodes of Last Seen now streaming, the remaining four episodes will drop on a weekly basis until October 7. And, according to Brammall, we're really not prepared for what's coming.

'Nothing is black and white'

Last Seen — Official Trailer | Apple TV - YouTube Last Seen — Official Trailer | Apple TV - YouTube
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"Ian is not a hero," Brammall exclusively told me about his character in the Apple TV Original. "His focus on paper is an altruistic one, but it's also mixed with hope, guilt, [and] everybody he's failed. There's a lot of collateral damage.

"Conversely, when we first see Sarah (Chloe Jean Lourdes), she's happy. Nothing's black and white. As the series goes on, you can sort of see that Ian and Henry (Brendan Cowell) are two sides of the same coin."

By the time episode 2 ends, which is where we're currently up to, this doesn't exactly feel like the case. Henry feels like an elusive villain, having clearly held onto some deeply disturbing secrets for too long, and for reasons we don't quite yet understand.

"By the end, the agency is taken away from them both and given to Sarah," Brammall continued. "I think that's completely unexpected. The ending is something that you wouldn't necessarily have anticipated, and it's not the sort of ending you'd usually get in a crime drama, either. That's a testament to how multi-layered the show is."

Intriguing. In this day and age, we should probably consider it a luxury when a crime drama is able to surprise us. If Last Seen can really put its money where its mouth over the next few weeks, then we've genuinely got some unmissable TV on our hands.



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Jasmine Valentine
Streaming Staff Writer

Jasmine is a Streaming Staff Writer for TechRadar, previously writing for outlets including Radio Times, Yahoo! and Stylist. She specialises in comfort TV shows and movies, ranging from Hallmark's latest tearjerker to Netflix's Virgin River. She's also the person who wrote an obituary for George Cooper Sr. during Young Sheldon Season 7 and still can't watch the funeral episode.

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