Remember the pretty brilliant but very simple thriller movie Searching from 2018? Well, there’s a sequel on the way, and we have Black Panther filmmaker Ryan Coogler to thank for the fact the new movie Missing is on the way in 2023.
The original film was a really effective, modern take on the idea of a detective movie, using technology like social media and web chats to help solve a missing person’s case. It was pretty much an open-and-shut case, though, so the idea of a sequel to Searching may seem a little odd.
In an interview with Collider, producer of Searching, Sev Ohanian, revealed that when they got the call to make another movie in the series, it was MCU director Ryan Coogler who urged them to go ahead with the project.
“I got a call from Sony a couple of months after [Searching] came out, and they were like, ‘You guys ready? Let’s do Searching 2. John Cho goes after someone else who’s missing.’ We were like, ‘Maybe?’ But, I was hesitant. I think for us, we really were proud of that film, and the whole team here had done such a great job on that. I remember I hung up the phone and I happened to be working right next to a good friend of mine who’s a director himself,” Ohanian explained.
That friend, was Ryan Coogler. Ohanian continued: “He saw me laughing and he was like, ‘What was that?’ I was like, ‘Dude, Sony wants to make a sequel to Searching.’ And his reaction was like, ‘Dude! Hell, yeah!'” Ohanian remained dubious, but Coogler did enough to persuade him otherwise. “I remember he looked at me, right in my eyes, and he was like, ‘If anyone can make a sequel to that film, it’s you guys. Y’all have to do it.'”
Missing will see a whole new cast, with Euphoria alum Storm Reid heading the cast. The film may have the majority of the same crew as Searching, but it’s all thanks to MCU movie director Coogler that it exists at all.
If you’re keen on Missing you should probably check out our guides to upcoming TV series like the Perry Mason season 2 release date for more detective fun. Or dive into our guide on the Euphoria season 3 release date to see if Storm Reid will return.