When an FBI agent goes missing while hunting a serial killer, she’s declared dead in absentia — that is, legally presumed dead, even though there’s no body. But then she’s found alive six years later, with no memory of her time away, and struggles to step back into her old life. Her husband remarried and is raising her son with a new woman. And, while attempting to help her old colleagues with her case, she discovers she’s the chief suspect in a new crime.

Absentia ran for three seasons on Amazon Prime and was created by Gaia Violo (Star Trek: Starfleet Academy) and Matthew Cirulnick (Rambo: Last Blood). The psychological thriller stars Stana Katic (Quantum of Solace), Patrick Heusinger (Frances Ha), Cara Theobold (Crazyhead), and Richard Brake (Barbarian).

When will Absentia be released?

Stream all three seasons now.

Who’s in the cast of Absentia?

• Stana Katic (Castle) as Special Agent Emily Byrne
• Patrick Heusinger (Frances Ha) as Special Agent Nick Durand
• Patrick McAuley (The Conjuring 2) as Flynn Durand
• Cara Theobold (Crazyhead) as Alice Durand
• Neil Jackson (Welcome to Marwen) as Jack Byrne
• Paul Freeman (The Thursday Murder Club) as Warren Byrne
• Bruno Bichir (Narcos) as Dr. Daniel Vega
• Ralph Ineson (Gunpowder Millkshake) as Special Agent Adam Radford
• Christopher Colquhoun (Casualty) as Special Agent Derek Crown
• Angel Bonanni (Condor) as Detective Tommy Gibbs
• Richard Brake (Barbarian) as Conrad Harlow

Seasons 2 and 3 also feature Matthew Le Nevez, Natasha Little, Hugh Quarshie, Geoff Bell, Josette Simon, Ross O’Hennessy, Lydia Leonard, and more.

What happens in Absentia?

FBI Special Agent Emily Byrne (Stana Katic) disappears while chasing down a serial killer, whose MO involves slicing the eyelids off his victims. Her husband, Special Agent Nick Durand (Patrick Heusinger), looks for her for two years before having her declared dead in absentia. Nick and his son, Flynn (Patrick McAuley), struggle to move on. But four years later, the Durands are starting to feel whole again thanks to Alice (Cara Theobold), Nick’s second wife and the woman Flynn calls mom. Then, one totally normal day, their whole world gets turned upside down again.

A fresh body washes up in Boston with its eyelids sliced off — a sign that either Conrad Harlow (Richard Brake), the man who went to jail for Emily’s murder, was wrongfully convicted or there’s a copycat killer out there whom Harlow is somehow training from prison. Nick thinks it’s the latter when he gets a call from Harlow in the middle of the night with specific directions to a cabin and a second chance to save Emily. When Nick arrives, he has seconds to pull Emily from a locked tank before she drowns, but Nick knows the hardest part is still to come. 

Flynn has no interest in getting to know this strange woman who’s causing tension between his dad and his stepmom. And Emily, rebuffed by her son, throws herself into recovering her memories so she can help her FBI friends work the case. But her faulty memories and PTSD make her an unreliable witness, and soon, thanks to DNA evidence under the new body’s fingernails, Emily becomes a suspect in the very crime she’s a victim of.

Is Absentia based on a book?

No, Absentia is not based on a book.

Where does Absentia take place?

Absentia is set primarily in Boston.

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