Richard Armitage has teased his role in Netflix's upcoming Harlan Coben thriller Missing You.
Set to premiere on New Year's Day, the upcoming series centres on Missing Persons detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar), whose world is turned upside down when her former fiancé Josh (Ashley Walters) suddenly pops up on a dating app 11 years after his mysterious disappearance.
Armitage takes on the role of DCI Ellis Stagger in the series, and the actor has said that fans should be "suspicious" of his character.
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"They should be [suspicious of Stagger]," he told RadioTimes. "The joy of working with this kind of material is that every single character has some kind of sub-plot that they have to hang onto, some kind of element of secrecy.
"I think with Stagger, he’s holding on to 11 years. He was a contemporary of Clint [Donovan, played by Lenny Henry], they came up through the force together.
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"So, in that first episode, when you realise what’s happened to him and you’re seeing that effect in his daughter who is now working with Stagger, you just know there’s something going on. I can’t tell you what it is, but it is that classic thing of building up this sort of pressure cooker plot."
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When asked why the role appealed to him, Armitage continued: "Very hard to answer that question without spilling the beans.
"I’ve never played a police officer before, a cop, [so] taking on a role of authority was appealing to me. And also, knowing where the story went. The sort of secrets that this man has to keep buried, I just thought that little pressure cooker was going to be interesting and exciting."
Missing You arrives on Netflix on January 1, 2025.
Social Executive, Entertainment Portfolio After completing her joint honours degree in Journalism and English Literature at Cardiff University, Iona joined Digital Spy as a Content Production Intern in 2022, where she wrote across both news and features, specialising in TV and movies. Following her internship, Iona continued contributing to the site as a freelance reporter, becoming social executive for the Hearst UK entertainment portfolio in summer 2025. Iona now leads the DS social channels, covering red carpets with stars such as Paul Mescal, Austin Butler, and more.
