David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes have joined the cast of BBC One’s The Missing for the second season.

Filming has commenced on the new eight-part sequel to 2014’s hit drama series, with Tchéky Karyo returning as detective Julien Baptiste.

> Buy Season 1 on DVD on Amazon.

Directed by Ben Chanan (Cyberbully, The Last Kingdom) and featuring “a new case, new characters and a new location”, Season 2 is once again written by creators Harry and Jack Williams.

Polly Hill, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, said: “The success of series one and response from the audience was incredible, and I am extremely excited for what the second series holds. Harry and Jack Williams have delivered compelling original scripts yet again, this time with a completely new case from a different perspective. David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes are two of the finest actors in the country, and we are thrilled to have them on board.”

Starz Managing Director, Carmi Zlotnik, said: “The talented Williams brothers take us on a thrilling journey in this next instalment with a new story, characters and locations that ultimately explores what happens when the missing child you’ve been searching for comes home. We are thrilled to continue this limited series and collaboration with the BBC, New Pictures and Playground.”

The cast also includes Roger Allam (Endeavour), Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad), Anastasia Hille (Prey), Lia Williams (The Crown), Jake Davies (Yen), Florian Bartholomäi (Deutschland 83) and Daniel Ezra (Murdered By My Boyfriend).

The official synopsis reads: “[Season 2] follows Sam and Gemma, played by David Morrissey (The Walking Dead) and Keeley Hawes (Line of Duty), whose daughter Alice went missing in 2003. In 2014, a young British woman stumbles through the streets of her German hometown and collapses. Her name is Alice Webster, played by newcomer Abigail Hardingham (Nina Forever), and she has been missing for 11 years. Alice’s return sends shockwaves through the small community.

“Told in dual timelines, flitting between 2014 and the present day, we follow Alice’s family as they are thrown back into a turmoil that threatens to tear them apart at the seams. When French missing person’s detective Julien Baptiste races across Europe to pursue a 12-year-old case that he never let die, we begin to explore the murky morality and emotional complexity of what happens when the missing child you’ve been longing to return actually comes back.”

Season 1 received four BAFTA Television Awards nominations, two Golden Globe® nominations, and a nomination at both the Critics’ Choice Television Awards and the Primetime Emmy Awards®.

Are you looking forward to Season 2? Let us know below…