Last Seen is an Australian thriller television miniseries created by Kris Mrksa, based on the book The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn. It stars Patrick Brammall, Brendan Cowell, Maxine Peake, and Daniel Henshall. The series premiered on 9 September 2026 on Apple TV and received positive reviews from critics.
Contents
Premise
Ian, an alcoholic former police officer, now emergency dispatcher, receives a call about a body found near his home; he thinks it may be his daughter, who went missing 11 years previously.
Cast
Main
Patrick Brammall as Ian Ridley
Brendan Cowell as Henry Reid, a reclusive fundamentalist
Maxine Peake as Jenna Reid, Henry's wife
Daniel Henshall as Donald Reid
Jessica Wren as Debbie McGuire
Zahra Newman as Isabel Pena
Taylor Ferguson as Polly Foster
Bert La Bonté as Bill McCracken
Tobias Muhafidin as Dean Ridley
Carolyn Bock as Lydia Boyd
James Saunders as Ben Sizemore
Chloe Jean Lourdes as Sarah Reid, Henry's daughter
Felix Cameron as Tommy Brenton
Colin Friels as Gareth Reid
Recurring
Jack Green as Constable Steven Lewis
Guest
Fletcher Humphrys as Peter Mulligan
Justin Bell as Shane Kennedy
Charly Thorn as Tyra Kennedy
Aly Zhang as Penny
Cliff Wood as Les Potter
Spencer Ellis-Anderson as Andy Kennedy
Oscar Redding as Jack Brenton
Carlin Monteiro as Sam Lynch
Dash Maxwell as Damian "Damo" Tully
Zane Blumeris as Charlie Halloran
Will Crittenden as Jayden Brenton
Judith Roberts as Francine
Jackson Raine as Angus
Danny Matier as Tony
Simon Maiden as Eli
Julie Forsyth as Rebecca
Martin Blum as John
Ana Maria Belo as DCI Christine Jensen
Robert Plazek as Tactical Officer Tyler
Production
The six-part series is written by Kris Mrksa, who adapted the script from Ryan David Jahn's 2011 novel The Dispatcher, transplanting the setting from midwest US to Australia. Mrksa also served as an executive producer, along with Jamie Laurenson and Hakan Kousetta of 60Forty Films, and Joanna Werner of Werner Film Productions. Christian Schwochow is director and co-executive producer.
Patrick Brammall was cast in the lead role in June 2024. In March 2025, Maxine Peake, Brendan Cowell, Daniel Henshall, Jessica Wren, Zahra Newman, and Chloe Jean Lourdes were added to the cast.
Filming began in Australia in March 2025, with Bonnie Elliott responsible for cinematography. It is the first Apple TV show to be both made and entirely filmed in Australia.
Release
The series premiered globally on Apple TV on 9 September 2026 with two episodes, followed by one each week.
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 86% approval rating with an average rating of 7.2/10, based on 22 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Last Seen serves its mystery in bold spades, taking a story of familial tragedy to the brink of heart-wrenching and engrossing, while Patrick Brammall's performance takes this series to the next level." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 78 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Luke Buckmaster of The Guardian gave the series 5 out of 5 stars, calling it "riveting television" and "one of the standout shows of the year". Brian Tallerico gave it 3 out of 4 stars on RogerEbert.com, praising the "nuanced character work".