Last Seen Review: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Last Seen is a superbly acted, carefully structured crime thriller that earns every twist through genuine emotional weight, anchored by an outstanding performance from Patrick Brammall.
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Platform: Apple TV
Genre: Crime Thriller
Episodes: 6
Cast: Patrick Brammall, Maxine Peake, Brendan Cowell, Chloe Jean Lourdes
Last Seen builds its story around a premise that sounds familiar at first glance: a grieving father whose young daughter vanished years ago receives a phone call he becomes convinced is from her. But what could easily have been just another genre thriller turns into something far more gripping in the hands of director Christian Schwochow, who delivers one of the standout shows of the year.
The story follows Ian, played by Patrick Brammall, a former detective who now works for Australia’s emergency call service after his daughter Maggie disappeared eleven years earlier.
Six months sober and separated from his ex-wife, Ian carries the quiet weight of a man who blames himself for everything that happened, a burden the show captures beautifully in small, restrained details, like the unopened bottle of vodka he keeps in front of him at dinner, a silent reminder of the temptation he refuses to give in to.
The phone call that anchors the show’s marketing does not actually happen until the end of the second episode, but the series uses that time wisely, laying careful groundwork rather than wasting a single moment.
Before that call even comes, the story’s real turning point arrives when the remains of a small child are discovered in bushland near where Ian lives, immediately pulling him into an investigation he has no business being part of and setting the entire story into motion.
If you want a closer look at how the show sets up this premise before diving in, this piece on the show’s arrival on Apple TV is worth checking out.
Patrick Brammall is the true anchor of this series, delivering a performance far removed from the comedic roles he is best known for. He captures Ian’s grief, rage, and stubborn hope with real nuance, letting small flashes of humor slip through the character’s bleakness in a way that makes his pain feel even more human.
It is a performance that manages to be both deeply sympathetic and quietly unsettling, since Ian is a man who could snap at any moment, yet remains someone audiences genuinely root for.
The supporting cast matches that quality throughout. Brendan Cowell is genuinely magnetic as Henry, a local man harboring secrets of his own, bringing a heavy, guarded stillness to every scene he is in.
Maxine Peake is equally compelling as Henry’s wife Jenna, carving out a character who feels enigmatic and conflicted without ever tipping into melodrama. Newcomer Chloe Jean Lourdes also deserves real credit for balancing the emotional extremes of her role with the natural uncertainty of a teenage girl questioning everything she has ever been told.
As the first Apple TV series filmed entirely in Australia, Last Seen carries the polished, prestige look the platform has become known for, elevated further by cinematographer Bonnie Elliott’s sharp visual eye. That glossy aesthetic could easily have made the show feel generic, but here it works beautifully, grounding the story’s emotional stakes rather than distracting from them.
The show is not entirely free of familiar crime drama tropes. Sharp-eyed viewers may guess certain plot explanations well before the characters investigating them do, and the story leans on a convenient coincidence or two to keep its tightly knit community feeling connected.
But these are minor trade-offs for a series that moves from one tense, carefully built moment to the next without ever losing sight of its characters’ emotional truth.
What ultimately makes Last Seen so effective is that its twists are never used simply for shock value. Every revelation carries real emotional weight because the show never loses focus on what these events actually mean for the people living through them.
By the time the story reaches its quietly ambiguous ending, it becomes clear that no outcome here could ever be neatly happy, because some things, once lost, simply cannot be given back.
Last Seen is now streaming on Apple TV.