Kaley Cuoco Reveals Why Filming ‘Vanished’ in France Wasn’t a Dream Come True — Until It Was

For some screen stars, the notion of spending a few months in the south of France, filming in the scenic cities and beachsides, might be a dream come true. For Kaley Cuoco, it was almost a reason not to take the leading role of MGM+’s new mystery-thriller Vanished.

Premiering with the first of four episodes on February 1, the new streaming series features her as Alice Monroe, an archaeologist whose beloved boyfriend goes missing in the middle of a train ride, leaving her in a desperate search for the truth that soon becomes deadly. The action is set mostly in and around Marseille, and as lush and lovely as the locale is, it was initially a downside of the job for Cuoco.

The actress explained that she initially resisted that part of the project because she didn’t want to leave her then-2-year-old daughter, Mathilda, back at home. 

“When they first said that we want to shoot Marseille, it was like this big backdrop of vision, [I was] like, ‘God, you really need to do that? Can we shoot here for there? I’ve got a 2-year-old. How do I leave?'” she remembered in an interview with TV Insider. “It was the first time I had to make a big decision since being a mom.” 

However, she got encouragement from her fiancé, fellow actor Tom Pelphrey. “Luckily, my fiancé was amazing. He’s like, ‘You gotta go. It’s a great opportunity.’ And he really took over at home, which enabled me to go and immerse myself into the job, and the people there, and the environment. And it’s a really great memory. I don’t know if I’ll have an opportunity like that again, so I’m glad that I did it.”

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She was also happy with the finished product of the four-episode miniseries, especially with how much the setting plays into the story at hand: “When I saw the end product, I realized how much France was a part of the show. It was another character who was so stunning. Sometimes the backgrounds looked so picturesque that I thought people would think it was fake. It was so pretty — a big part of the show, for sure,” she said. 

Find out just how much the French countryside comes into play in this exciting new thrillride when Vanished premieres next month!

Vanished, Series Premiere, February 1, MGM+