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Found's Shanola Hampton Teases Wild Season 2: "We Come Out of The Gate Swinging"
NBC's missing persons drama returns to the airwaves Thursday, October 3.
NBC's missing persons thriller Found won't pull any punches when it returns early next month for the hotly-anticipated start of its sophomore season. Appearing on the latest episode of the Dateline podcast, star and executive producer Shanola Hampton (Gabi Mosely) sat down with Dateline correspondent Josh Mankiewicz to discuss a topic that transcends the line between reality and fiction: bringing attention to the missing and underrepresented. Mankiewicz hosts the podcast Dateline: Missing in America, where he interviews family members and investigators and offers ways for listeners to reach out if they have information to help solve a case.
Hampton and Mankiewicz talked about the real-life issues, as well as how the hit series represents them, in their wide-ranging chat. Regarding the missing persons cases on Found, Hampton teased a season debut that sounds more like a finale than a premiere.
RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About NBC's Missing Persons Show Found Before Season 2
"When I say we come out of the gate swinging… it is so good. Edge of the seat from the first minute to the last," she promised. "And in the middle of all the crazy, what our show does well, is we also have our characters — the core group of people who have gone through their own struggles — and we get to tell their stories throughout, finding the missing people. Having both things happen at the same time, it's insane. You won't be able to keep up. It's so good. Our writers have done such an amazing job telling stories that keep you on the edge of your seat. It's so exciting and everybody is going to be satisfied."
What is Found about?
Found centers around the team at Mosely & Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based endeavor that is half PR firm and half private investigation service. The company was founded by Gabi Mosely, who, after being held against her will for over a year by a man named "Sir" (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), has dedicated her life to finding missing people often overlooked by the system: people of color, prostitutes, the homeless, etc. Working alongside her are other people deeply traumatized by kidnappings and/or unsolved missing persons cases. What they don't know, however, is that Gabi has Sir locked in her basement and uses his sinister expertise to help solve cases... well, at least she did, until Sir escaped during the Season 1 finale!
How Season 2 of NBC's Found will expand the show's format
Creator and showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll told Dateline that Season 2 will widen the scope for the good people at Mosely & Associates by "expanding that definition of the forgotten ones."
"It's not just about finding missing Black people or missing Indigenous people or missing people from the Latinx community," she continued. "It is all walks of life. It's addicts that people have decided don't deserve a second chance at life because they did this to themselves. It's sex workers who there's always judgment around, 'Well, what did they do to get themselves taken?' We're really digging deep in terms of our non-binary characters and what's happening in the Queer community and really making sure that we're shedding a light on that as well."
RELATED: Will Sir Get Redeemed on Found? Mark-Paul Gosselaar Teases "Ridiculous" Season 2
And don't forget: in addition to their usual duties of tracking down individuals no one seems to want to find, Gabi and her team of crack shot investigators also have to deal with the fact that Sir is on the loose!
When does Season 2 of Found premiere?
Found Season 2 premieres Thursday, October 3 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
Want to catch up on the story so far? The complete first season, which nabbed nominations from both the GLAAD Media Awards (Outstanding New TV Series) and NAACP Image Awards (Outstanding Drama Series), is now streaming on Peacock.
Dateline’s Legacy of Covering Missing Persons Cases
Dateline launched Missing in America 10 years ago. What began as a series of digital articles, featuring cases suggested by Dateline's followers on social media expanded into an original podcast series that's now in its third season. Josh Mankiewicz interviews family members and investigators and offers ways for listeners to reach out if they have information to help solve a case. In total Dateline has covered more than 500 cases.
Dateline's new season premieres September 27 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
