Why Kaley Cuoco's New Mystery Thriller Series Only Has 4 Episodes

Kaley Cuoco is back with a new mystery thriller series, Vanished, and reveals why it only has four episodes.

After playing Penny for years on the hit CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, Cuoco shifted to the mystery and thriller genres with HBO’s The Flight Attendant and the now-canceled Peacock show Based on a True Story. In the MGM+ series Vanished, she plays Alice Monroe, who travels to Paris for a romantic trip with her boyfriend, Tom Parker (Sam Claflin). After he goes missing, Alice tries to find him, which leads to shocking secrets being uncovered. The first episode debuted on February 1, and the remaining three will be released on a weekly basis. In addition to starring, Cuoco is also an executive producer.

In an interview with ScreenRant’s Ash Crossan for Vanished, Cuoco discussed how, despite the weekly release model, the series is a perfectly fast-paced binge-watch. She also explained that while the series was always going to be four episodes, she likes this length as it feels cinematic, and viewers can choose whether to experience it in one sitting as one large movie or can break it up with each episode. Check out her comments below:

Thank you. That’s what I want. It’s quick, it’s fast-moving — you can get it all done in one night. It’s an easy binge, so I’m really glad to hear that.

It was always four episodes, and when they brought it to me — I mean, it’s been a little while now — but I remember thinking, it’s so interesting where we’ve gotten in our television viewing days. There’s no rule anymore. You get four, you do eight. I was just saying The Pitt does 22 — every show has. So I thought, okay, this is going to be kind of cool. This kind of has a film vibe, so you could kind of watch it all at once or kind of break it up. But I liked that it felt like kind of a large film, and because we shot literally in Marseille and Paris, there was something so beautiful about it and so international and romantic, and it just checked a lot of boxes for me personally. Then my two-year-old was like, Oh God, should I be leaving for two months to go gallivant in France? And I’m glad I made that decision. I don’t know how many more opportunities I’ll have to do something like that. So it checked a lot of lovely boxes personally.

Cuoco was then asked about her favorite parts of the two-month filming period in Marseille and Paris. She emphasized how exciting it was to film in both locations and how satisfying it was to continue working with the same team she has collaborated with for years, including the same stunt double she has been with since The Flight Attendant.

Well, the cool part was we shot all over, and I did not know Marseille going into it, but it is a port town. So you are literally surrounding this amazing port, and there were boats and ships and all these things coming in constantly. You can really see it from pretty much any location. We ran and had so many locations that I feel like I saw all of Marseille. If someone said, “Should I go to Marseille?” I could tell you exactly where to go. I feel like I’m a pro. I would go back there in a heartbeat. And then getting to shoot in Paris too — I had my hair and makeup girls from here, my amazing assistant, and I got to bring my stunt double, who’s also my dear friend. She’s been with me since The Flight Attendant. We’re like a core group. We’ve worked together for a long time. So it was like being overseas with your best friends, and then you’d go to work. It was just normal. It was weird.

Vanished comes at a time when many shows are having increasingly shorter seasons, although most still have more than four episodes. Compared to Cuoco’s other mystery series, both The Flight Attendant and Based on a True Story had eight episodes per season, more than double the amount of the MGM+ show. As Cuoco noted, The Pitt is among the series that are returning to longer seasons. However, at 15 episodes, HBO’s critically acclaimed medical drama is still shorter than the 22 episode seasons that used to be standard for network television.

With a debut score of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, reviews for Vanished have been mixed so far, although the score will likely fluctuate as more reviews are added. In ScreenRant’s review, El Kuiper writes that “The four-episode format undoubtedly limited what could be done with the story’s characters and their backstories, as all the focus was on forcing the narrative forward at a breakneck pace.” Other reviews highlight similarities to The Flight Attendant and that the new series is not quite as compelling as the HBO show.

Episode 1 of Vanished is streaming on MGM+, with new episodes releasing on Sundays.