The Missing: David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes join series 2

Production has begun on the second series of the BBC mystery drama

Production has begun on The Missing's second series, bringing with it new revelations of what's in store for the BBC mystery drama.

The Walking Dead's David Morrissey and The Casual Vacancy's Keeley Hawes have joined the show as its new stars, according to Variety.

Though, really, it's a bizarre choice to be bringing the show back for a second round. Series 1's child abduction storyline very much felt like a complete entity, ambiguous ending notwithstanding; indeed, its return sees the show take on an entirely new crime, new location, and new characters.

Morrissey and Hawes will play Sam and Gemma, whose daughter Alice disappeared in 2003, before resurfacing in a German town 11 years later. The narrative will flit back and forth between timelines, as the show explores the difficult emotional journeys which take place when a missing child is suddenly returned, and must reintegrate into a family life barely remembered.

Only one returning character has been confirmed, Tchéky Karyo's Julien Baptiste; he'll be on the trail of the long-unsolved case, on a journey which sees him race across Europe. Though the first series starred both James Nesbitt and Frances O'Connor, Nesbitt has already confirmed he won't be returning to the show.

"While we were writing the first series, we began talking about what the show would have been had Oliver Hughes been found," stated writers Harry and Jack Williams. "This story grew out of that discussion. It’s the other side of the coin to series 1 – an exploration of loss, of freedom, of how the past can shape the present in myriad ways that we cannot fully understand. It’s bigger, more ambitious, and we’re delighted to have such a brilliantly talented cast joining Julien Baptiste for a new case."