Joshua James in Absentia Season 2Image: Elena Nenkova / ©Amazon / courtesy Everett Collection
By
Denis Kimathi
Published 2 minutes ago
Denis is a news writer for Collider. He has covered television for several years, starting with writing scripts for YouTube videos before transitioning to articles. He has reviewed shows across different genres. His favorite types of articles to write are exciting news updates about shows and episodic reviews of the same. He might say he doesn't have a favorite show, but he has watched The Wire, Shameless, The Big Bang Theory, and The Blacklist more than once. Find him on X tweeting about something random that occurred to him about a TV show or the industry.
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Many factors go into a show's success; a show that failed on one streaming platform can become a success on another. Absentia premiered on Prime Video eight years ago and ran for three seasons before getting cancelled in 2020. The crime thriller recently found a new home on Netflix, where its luck has turned around, and it has become a streaming sensation. The series is currently the second-most-popular show globally, topped only by Claire Danes' mystery thriller, The Beast in Me. Absentia has beaten numerous Netflix originals to claim this spot, including the new Shōgun and Squid Game mashup, Last Samurai Standing, the platform's cultural juggernaut Stranger Things, and even the K-drama, Dynamite Kiss.
The thriller was created for Prime Video, where it ran from 2017 to 2020. Absentia tells the story of FBI Special Agent Emily Byrne (Stana Katic), who disappears and is believed to have been killed by a notorious serial killer. Six years after her supposed killer is convicted and sent to prison, Emily reappears without any memory of what happened to her for the past six years. Life has moved on as her ex-husband has a new wife after she was declared dead in absentia, and her son knows a different woman as his mother. Emily's return is complicated when she is implicated in new murders while trying to figure out what happened to her. Other cast members include Patrick Heusinger (Nick Durand), Cara Theobold (Alice Durand), Neil Jackson (Jack Byrne), Angel Bonanni (Detective Tommy Gibbs), Bruno Bichir (Dr. Daniel Vega), Paul Freeman (Warren Byrne), Ralph Ineson (Special Agent Adam Radford), Patrick McAuley (Flynn Durand), Christopher Colquhoun (Special Agent Derek Crown), and Richard Brake (Conrad Harlow).
Is 'Absentia' Returning for Season 4?
It's been five years since the show's final season, but the recent success on streaming raises the question of a potential continuation. It seems unlikely that the series will return, given Katic's previous comments. "Three Seasons was the perfect amount of space for a beautiful, complicated and wonderfully fulfilling journey. We took our protagonist on the path of victim to survivor to … empowered architect of her own future, which is a journey I hope we can all have after this confounding year," she wrote in an Instagram post. The actress ruled out potential continuation, saying,
"And although we’ve danced with the idea of continuing the tale, “ABSENTIA" was always meant to be only 3 seasons, & I couldn’t think of a better note to end on… for any person on this planet, but especially Emily and her loved ones."
Suffice to say that there are no plans to bring back the show right now. However, you can stream all episodes on Netflix.
Absentia
Like TV-MA Crime Drama Mystery Release Date 2017 - 2020-00-00 Directors Oded Ruskin, Kasia Adamik, Greg Zglinski, Adam Sanderson Writers Gaia, Violo, Matt CirulnickCast
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Stana Katic
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Matthew Le Nevez
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Patrick Heusinger
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Cara Theobold
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Amazon Prime Video
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Netflix
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