Sam Claflin Talks ‘Vanished’ Finale & Shares Perfect Season 2 Pitch

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Vanished Episode 4.]

Tom Parker (Sam Claflin) might’ve been the one to leave Alice Monroe (Kaley Cuoco) out of nowhere at the start of Vanished, but in Sunday’s (February 22) finale, it was him who got ghosted — though Alice at least had the courtesy of leaving Tom a note.

The fourth and final episode of the MGM+ mystery-drama revealed that Tom was indeed enmeshed in a human trafficking ring with Alex (Matthias Schweighöfer) and Mira (Dar Zuzovsky). However, he was acting undercover as a spy for MI-6, working to expose the entire operation for criminal prosecution.

The fact that he was still the good guy, deep down, that Alice thought he was still wasn’t enough for her, though; in the end, she decided to leave Tom behind and move on with her life back in the U.S.

Is that really the end of Alice and Tom, though? Sam Claflin doesn’t think so. Here, the actor breaks down all of the twists of the series and offers a perfect pitch for what might be next in a second season.

Early on, do you think Tom was sincere about wanting to move forward with Alice and move to New Jersey with her? Or do you think he always knew that that wasn’t going to happen?

Sam Claflin: No, I think 100% he knew it was going to happen or believed it was going to happen. A conversation I had with Barnaby [Thompson], the director, and his son, Preston, who was on set a lot as the writer, was that we believed that when they got together, he had no affiliation, no secrets, that he was very genuine and sincere in everything that he said and did. And I think that’s him being introduced into that secret life, that mysterious role comes later within their relationship. And I think it’s more that he felt cornered and didn’t have a way out.

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He was head-hunted, I guess you could say, so I think he’s sincere in his love for her and his dedication to her… it just then gets complicated. As we know, with corruption in government, federal agencies have a tendency to use wicked ways to get what they want and to use and abuse certain people along their way, and I think he gets wrapped up in that. But I think his feelings are sincere. He loves her, yeah. If not, what? He doesn’t need to be with her, so I think he does. It just gets confusing and complex.

In the second episode, when they were reunited, we had heard the story about Tom and a kid, Malik, whom he had tried to protect. However, he didn’t know about the story. Do you think that’s because it didn’t happen to him? Or was he lying to her in that moment, too? 

No, 100% didn’t happen. I think that’s his boss’ undercover story to throw her off the scent, to put Tom in sort of a firing line. That’s the manipulation, and then the genius of Matthias’ character. Because yeah, I don’t believe that story happened at all. Tom definitely went deep undercover, but I don’t think he did go deep undercover…

In his eyes, he believes he’s doing the right thing by pursuing this target. I think he feels like him achieving what the end goal is — which is putting this person away — would mean the world would benefit. And so I think he had the best intentions the whole time. I think it’s just, as we know, there are certain people who work for the government or work for police forces that can’t bring their work home and can’t inform their partners of their job in all its entirety. And I think he’s not alone in that respect, but I definitely kind of get the impression that he’s someone who wasn’t trained and doesn’t know how to handle the kind of complexities of keeping work at work and home at home. So that leads to lies, and it leads to the nature of their relationship, which obviously leads the spot to this spiraling of Kaley’s character.

Amazon / MGM+

In the finale, after everything came to light, do you think Tom really expected Alice to take him back and just go forward with their original plans to go to New Jersey? And what do you imagine is next for him after he didn’t? 

I don’t doubt that he was expecting there to be plenty of conversations, and I don’t know that he is expecting like a seamless reunion, but I think the strength of their relationship and the strong foundation that they have before the series starts suggests that she would be understanding to some extent. Eventually, he could win her trust back again.

I think he’s a good person. I don’t think he’s a bad person, and I don’t think he meant to cause her so much pain and anguish. But again, I think he just got so deep into the circumstances that he couldn’t see a way out.

What do I think happens afterwards? I think he probably goes looking for her. I think we turn into Vanished 2, and it’s she’s vanished, and it’s his intention to track her down.

Stepping back, this is such a parallel series. You’ve got the backstory elements that are so romantic and have this real wholesome vibe, and then some of them are him helping people at the camps and things like that, versus the fight sequences and the running and the chaos. Can you talk about just filming that many different elements to the story?

I think that’s what drew me to the project — the fact that there is sort of a lightness peppered throughout. For me, we started initially filming the more intense action stuff and then ended with feeling like I was shooting a romantic comedy, which Kaley brings so much vivacious energy to those scenes that it was easy and joyful, and it was a lovely way to finish shooting.

I always find it easier dipping into the lighter and funnier and sweeter romance side of things. I think that’s where my strength lies, maybe. But I don’t know. It’s hard to know because I’ve always been very athletic. I love anything that requires some sort of physicality or stunts or running, and I would say that I’m also good at that. I just haven’t had much opportunity to kind of showcase that in my career so far.

The hope is, this will, hopefully, open doors and prove to people that [I can]. There are not huge amounts for me to do in this, but there is a little bit there, and I hope that it leads to more down the road. Because I definitely enjoy that side of it. I enjoy finding the physicality of each character and how this person walks and carries himself and exploring that further and deeper. A fight-action thriller would be really fun, I think.

Vanished, MGM+