Missing Creators Tease Many Easter Eggs From First Film Searching (Exclusive)

The upcoming mystery-thriller movie Missing (2023) isn’t what you would call a sequel, but it’s definitely set in the same universe as the 2018 mystery-thriller movie Searching. Both Missing and Searching take the found-footage concept into the modern age, where protagonists try to unravel mysteries using information mined from smartphones and laptops, while communicating with others via texts and video calls. In order to pay homage to Searching without weighing down this new story, the creators of Missing had to get creative with their Easter eggs. 

ComicBook.com had the chance to speak with Missing co-director Nick Johnson and producer Natalie Qasabian. Daily Distraction host Chris Killian made sure to ask about whether or not there was ever a version of the movie that fell in line with a more traditional sequel – i.e., bringing back major characters and storylines, rather than introducing entirely new ones. 

“We actually have a lot of little fun Easter eggs and shoutouts to characters from the first movie,” Johnson teased. “So I think there’s enough in there that fans of the first movie – if they’re looking – they’ll be really, really, excited and satisfied. If you look closely.” 

How those Searching Easter eggs get tucked into Missing will be interesting to see. The new film follows a teenage girl named June Allen (Storm Reid) whose mother Grace (Nia Long) goes on vacation with her new boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung). When Grace doesn’t return on time, June must use the tech at her disposal to investigate her mother’s disappearance.

No doubt there will be a lot of fans of the Searching/Missing series who will be hoping that John Cho’s David Kim pops in for a cameo appearance. One of the fun things about this series is that its angle on found footage makes cameos as easy as a few minutes (or less) of FaceTime for an actor. 

Here’s the full synopsis for Missing. Watch our interview in the video above. 

When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s 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.

Missing will be in theaters on January 20th.