How Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Director Ryan Coogler Helped Missing Movie Come Together

Missing‘s directors actually had some help from Black Panther filmmaker Ryan Coogler. In a recent interview with Collider‘s Perri Nemiroff, the filmmakers revealed that they had some help in thinking about the concept. Especially producers for the Searching sequel, Natalie Qasabian, Avneesh Chaganty, and Sev Ohanian. They were approached by Sony to follow up the multiple screen mystery. But, the idea of just doing another story and turning John Cho into a digital Benoit Blanc didn’t seem like the right choice. Coogler assured Ohanian that they would get it together. All of the creatives involved would come through to deliver a satisfying sequel. Check out how the producer described it for yourself right here. 

“So the honest-to-god answer is, I got a call from Sony a couple of months after the movie 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,” Ohanian admitted. “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, a guy named Ryan Coogler who directed Black Panther.”

“This is a 100% true story. I remember I hung up the phone and 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!’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, man. I’ve got to talk to Nat. I got to talk to Aneesh.’ I was like, ‘Maybe we don’t do this.’ 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.’ So he was like, ‘Y’all have to do it.’ I called these guys, they had the same initial reaction as me. Then we were like, ‘Who’s gonna direct it?’ And then we realized we have the greatest directors right there. Then we started ideating on what could the sequel be?”

What Is Missing About?

Here’s what Sony has to say about the Searching sequel: “From the minds behind Searching comes Missing, a thrilling roller-coaster mystery that makes you wonder how well you know those closest to you. When her mother (Nia Long) disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s (Storm Reid) search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it’s too late. But as she digs deeper, her digital sleuthing raises more questions than answers…and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all.”

Have you gone to see Missing yet? Let us know down in the comments!