Diksha Sundriyal
Harlan Coben’s ‘Missing You’ is a mystery thriller series that follows the story of a young police officer named Kat Donovan, whose life unravels after the secrets about her loved ones start coming to light. First, she finds her ex’s profile on a dating site, through which she hopes to get answers from him, especially about why he abandoned her eleven years ago. The second thing to stir a storm for her is a bombshell dropped about the murder of her father by the man who was convicted of the crime. As Kat digs for the truth, she discovers that the two biggest mysteries in her life are connected to each other. But that’s just the beginning of the story. The Netflix series takes many twists and turns, showing the audience that you can never really know anyone completely.
The Fictional Premise of Missing You Pokes at the Dynamics of Modern Dating
‘Missing You’ is a fictional story based on the 2014 book of the same name by Harlan Coben. Known for predominantly writing mysteries, he was experimenting with the ideas for his 25th novel when he came across the idea of incorporating online dating into the story. The author looked at the prevalence of dating apps in the modern world and wondered what the worst kind of profile someone could come across on these apps would be. After a lot of thought, he decided that coming across the profile of your ex, with whom things had ended pretty dramatically and remained unresolved, would be the worst-case scenario for someone browsing through the profiles of people on the app.
Because Coben had already been happily married for several years, he never really had the opportunity to use a dating site. However, while writing about online dating, he needed to know how things worked on dating apps. So, as part of his research, he created his own online dating profile, though he joked that he may have messed it up. Through his fake profile, Coben browsed through the profiles of other people and realized that a lot of people generally represent them in a way that is common to everyone. For example, everyone likes traveling, music, and a sense of humor, all of which give a very shallow picture of the person, who could be anybody on the other side. This misrepresentation of self added another dimension to the story, which plays a significant role in the narrative.
Once he had the hold of the story, the writer started thinking about the title that would best portray the complex and dark themes of the story. He thought of the song “Missing You” by John Waite and felt that the song’s lyrics closely resembled the things he wanted to explore in Kat’s story. Not only did he use the song’s title for his novel’s title, but he also incorporated the song in the story such that it plays an important part in painting the personalities of the characters, highlighting their strong connection with each other while also maintaining the mystery aspect of the story.
Rosalind Eleazar Did Not Want to be Judgemental of Kat’s Decisions in Missing You
While bringing Harlan Coben’s novel to life, the creators of ‘Missing You’ wanted to stick as close to the source material as possible, but they also had the freedom to experiment with some things to make the show more interesting. Several changes were made to the story and the character; for example, the setting of the story was changed from the US (which is where the book is set) to the UK. Book-Kat is an NYPD detective, while show-Kat is a detective in London. Another major change in the protagonist is that she is a Black police officer, which adds another layer to her character.
Actress Rosalind Eleazar revealed that she was drawn to ‘Missing You’ and Kat’s story due to its many nuances. A lot of what happens to Kat relies on her trusting people, and that becomes a major theme in her character development. Still, by the end of the story, Kat does some things that might make a person think twice. Eleazar, however, refrained from passing any judgment over the actions of her character, though she did admit that role was more intriguing and challenging than anything she had done before. The actress also liked doing the stunts for the show. As for the bond between Kat and Josh, Eleazar spent a lot of time off-screen with Ashley Walters, which allowed both of them to realistically portray the love between the characters and give the audience something to root for.
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