INTRIGUING SHOWS TO WATCH LIKE ‘VANISHED’
One of the more intriguing shows I’ve happily discovered, Vanished, a drama from MGM+, is our topic today and what inspires me to ask, what other show like this is there? While no list like this is perfectly curated (because we miss titles or add some that maybe don’t quite fit), they are still fun. Sometimes the titles I find to include even surprise me! Let’s get to take a closer look at what fits into our framework, shall we?
RELATED LIST | THE LOVE TRIANGLE: THE NICE GUYS WHO GET THEIR HEARTS BROKEN
INTRIGUING SHOWS TO WATCH LIKE ‘VANISHED.’ Looking at shows to enjoy like MGM+’s #Vanished with #KaleyCuoco. Share on XObviously, we’re starting from the premise of something mysterious going on. This is the starting point of Vanished. The show immediately throws the viewer into the action with Kaley Cuoco’s heroine running for her life from a mysterious (and presumable villain) figure in a motorcycle helmet. The show then backtracks to show us the days leading up to this which includes Cuoco’s Alice happy, in love and enjoying the sights during a lux vacation with her boyfriend, Tom (whom Sam Claflin plays).
Based off the first episode (which is all that my subscription access with Prime Video has been released at this drafting), I really like this show. It starts well and sets up plenty of intrigue and questions about what may come next. So, all this to say, let’s see if there are any shows (or films) like Vanished that fans of the show may enjoy!
THINGS LIKE VANISHED to watch
ALERT: MISSING PERSONS UNIT
After he was done with his long running crime drama Hawaii Five-0, Scott Caan starred in this short-lived two season drama. It follows a task force seeking missing people, and of course, gives Caan’s character a backstory that makes him ideally suited for this work.
Synopsis: When police officer Nikki Parker’s son goes missing, she joins the LAPD’s Missing Person’s Unit to help other people find their loved ones, even as she searches for her own. Six years later, her world is turned upside-down when her ex-husband, Devon Zoellner, shows up with a proof-of-life photo of their missing boy. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Hulu; or digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
THE ASSASSIN
I watched some of this late last year and I really liked it. Keeley Hawes features as a woman whose life is upended when she is found out by dangerous people from her past. This sends her and her estranged son on the run.
Synopsis: With “all the whip-smart, antic charm of Killing Eve or No Time to Die,” a retired assassin (Keeley Hawes, The Midwich Cuckoos) and her estranged son (Freddie Highmore, The Good Doctor) must work together in a fight for survival in this thriller. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with AMC+; or digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
BLUE SKIES
This one is an exclusive (right now) to UP Faith and Family streaming and got off to a good start. It follows a former military investigator who takes a new job at a national park which brings her back to her hometown, and possibly a former crush all while she works towards healing with her dad in the aftermath of her mother’s death.
Synopsis: Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Crystal Ridge National Park, Blue Skies follows former military police officer Jodi Larsen as she returns to her hometown to start over as a criminal investigator for the National Park Police. Driven by a love of the outdoors and a deep sense of justice, Jodi is determined to protect the park, its visitors and her community, whether from natural dangers or human threats. But Jodi’s fresh start is anything but simple. She’s navigating a new team, a by-the-book superintendent and a journey to reconnect with her father after her mother passed away while she was deployed. Her unexpected partner? A mischievous stray Labrador named Blue, whose instincts prove sharper than most trained K9s. – UP Entertainment
Stream, at publication, with UP Faith and Family
THE CROW GIRL
A drama that debuted (at least in the U.S.) on Acorn TV. This one is dark from what I remember. I haven’t watched the entire series, but the cast is good and has Dougray Scott (from Ever After) and Katherine Kelly (from Mr. Selfridge). The atmosphere is also appropriately creepy and dark.
Synopsis: When DCI Jeanette Kilburn (Eve Myles, Keeping Faith) and eminent psychotherapist Dr. Sophia Craven (Katherine Kelly, Happy Valley) join forces to hunt a killer targeting young men, they are pulled into a dangerous world of historic abuse and murder. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Acorn TV; or digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT
I have zero idea if the premise of this drama is similar to Vanished, but it is getting added because its lead star is also Kaley Cuoco and I’ve seen other editorials likening the two shows.
Synopsis: Flight attendant Cassie Bowden relishes her globe-trotting lifestyle, but her history with drinking – and penchant for becoming entangled in international intrigue – always seem to catch up with her. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with HBO Max; or digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
HINTERLAND
I binged this a few years ago and it’s very big on its atmosphere. I don’t think it has a missing person element, but it does follow an investigator who moves to a new place where he works cases, and as the synopsis says, looks for redemption from the past shadows that haunt him.
Synopsis: Winner of numerous BAFTA Cymru Awards, this “Nordic noir done the Welsh way” (The Guardian) follows DCI Tom Mathias (Richard Harrington), a newcomer to coastal Aberystwyth after a decade on the London police force. Partnered with hardworking local DI Mared Rhys (Mali Harries), Mathias confronts mystifying murders that push him to the edge in a place with secrets as dark and destructive as his own. – Acorn TV
Stream, at publication, with Acorn TV; or digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
MISSING, 2009
Synopsis: DS Mary Jane “MJ” Croft heads a team at a busy Missing Persons Unit to solve these disappearances, reuniting families or bringing closure to those left behind, as they are often forced to question how well they know their loved ones. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication, Missing (2009) with Acorn TV
MISSING, 2012
Ashley Judd led this limited series that only had 10 episodes. The plot is about a woman who must find her son after he goes missing. She, of course, has a secret past that gives her the skills she needs to go on this mission. Through flashback scenes, Sean Bean co-stars.
Synopsis: As Becca arrives in Rome, she begins piecing together the clues left behind. It isn’t long before the kidnappers realize they’ve picked a fight with the wrong woman. – Prime Video
Digitally purchase Missing (2012) on places like Prime Video
STEAL
This one does have a mysterious disappearance (a few episodes in) but mostly is intriguing because of the way we question the heroine, whom Sophie Turner plays. An office worker who is part of an employee group threatened at gunpoint in a mysterious heist. This of course brings in investigators which eventually casts suspicious on Zara (Turner) and another of her co-workers. The show is described as high-octane and is really good (or what I saw was), plus has a pretty high user rating!
Synopsis: A high-octane, heart-pounding thriller about the heist of the century. A typical day at Lochmill Capital is upended when armed thieves burst in and force Zara (Sophie Turner) and her best friend Luke (Archie Madekwe) to execute their demands. In the aftermath, conflicted detective Rhys (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) races against time to find out who stole £4 billion pounds of people’s pensions and why. – Prime Video
Steam, at publication, Steal exclusively (in the U.S.) with Prime Video
THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME
This is an Apple TV drama that earned some buzz following a woman who must cope in the aftermath of her husband’s disappearance. She also has to try and comfort her stepdaughter and keep together the remnants of the life she has left. The show dropped its first season in 2024 and just dropped the start of its second. Jennifer Garner leads both seasons.
Synopsis: A desperate stepmother must keep her stepdaughter safe when her husband vanishes. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, The Last Thing He Told Me with Apple TV
THE MISSING
Synopsis: When five-year-old Oliver vanishes, it sets off a manhunt that will last for years to come. The Missing is a gripping dramatic thriller that takes you inside the mind of a desperate father. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Starz
VANISHED, 2006
Sharing the same name as the 2026 MGM+ show we are building this list around, this one says it’s about a senator’s wife who goes missing.
At present, this show isn’t readily available to stream
WITHOUT a TRACE
This is an oldie show that once aired on network TV. It’s an ensemble cast procedural that followed an FBI team that took on missing person’s cases. Throughout the seven seasons, the episodes end happily, sadly and somewhere in-between which is a nice balance. The show also does, mostly after the first season, get a bit messy because of some of the inter-office personal stories that start to form.
Making up for this is the fact that a: the cast is really good and b: I adore the characters Danny and Vivian. The drama does have a 7.0 average (out of 10) user rating and a 4.5 star rating on Prime with over 300 reviews.
Synopsis: Without a Trace provides a fascinating glimpse into a rarely seen arena: the search for people who vanish inexplicably. Finding the missing depends as much on figuring out who they are as it does on determining where they are. – Prime Video
Digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
Stream, at publication, Vanished with MGM+
Photos: Alamy | Apple TV | UP Entertainment
MORE to browse
Have you watched Vanished? What would you add to a list of things to watch similar to the MGM+ Vanished drama? Sound off in the comments with all of your thoughts!
PINTEREST PIN – SAVE & SHARE
Rissi, Thank you for sharing this fab line up!
So many interesting drama and/or mystery shows to enjoy. :)