Who’s the Killer on ‘Gone’? Ranking the Top Suspects So Far

The first three episodes of BritBox’s new crime drama, Gone, have arrived on the streamer, and already, the mystery at the center of the story has produced several jaw-dropping twists.

So who is the killer? Read on for our ranking of the likeliest suspects so far. Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Gone Episodes 1-3.

The top suspect is, of course, the spouse.

There’s a reason murder victims’ romantic partners are almost always the prime suspect in any homicide investigation, and Michael Polly (David Morrissey) has done little to disabuse audiences — or the investigators, of course — of that notion so far.

At first, when his wife, Sarah, went missing, Michael’s public plea was for Sarah to come home so they could find a way to work things out. That message was very bizarre to DI Annie Cassidy (Eve Myles) — could he be pretending to think she’s still alive?

As we’d later learn, Sarah had an intimate relationship with another man and wrote of wanting to leave her husband, and Michael may or may not have known about it. So he could have been sincere in his thought that she might’ve run off, but his unflappable demeanor during the whole thing, including refusing to back down from his duties as headmaster and rugby coach, left a sour taste in Annie’s mouth. Once he broke down in tears, ostensibly in a place where no one would see, but Annie did, she started to lighten up on him. After all, he had an airtight alibi for the hours between Sarah’s disappearance and body discovery.

Then, though, the big red flag started to wave: Upon reviewing footage of Sarah’s paramour’s cottage, it was Michael who was at the scene.

The lover may be a red herring, but maybe not.

Sarah’s fling with Stephen Sedgwick (Elliot Cowan) is beyond suspicious. First, he waited to report his relationship with Sarah until she was confirmed dead, despite the public pleas for information. Then, he lied to the investigators about the nature of their relationship until he had to confess that they were intimate.

Then, he deleted hundreds of text messages between himself and Sarah that indicated she broke things off with him the very day before her disappearance, and he was missing at the time of the rugby game his son was supposed to be playing at. Oh, and it was he who made the only purchase with her credit card shortly after her disappearance.

He has the motive, his alibi is flimsy, and he’s obviously got something to hide. All that said, it seems a little too obvious at this point, but we’re not ready to rule him out just yet. In fact, he’s the likeliest suspect beyond Michael right now.

What about the son?

Here’s where this could be heading. Early in the series, we see Michael reprimanding one of his players for getting poor grades and then benching him to waterboy duties. That boy, it turns out, is none other than Dylan Sedgwick (Billy Barratt), the son of Stephen.

Could he have snuck away from the rugby game and done something to hurt his father’s mistress? We learn from Stephen that his wife, Claire (Claire Goose), is not well and would not survive a scandal or a separation, so assuming that’s true, perhaps Dylan has done something terrible to protect his family … or to exact revenge on the mean old coach.

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The daughter has done some suspicious things, but she’s probably not responsible for the murder.

Michael and Sarah’s daughter, Alana (Emma Appleton), has also engaged in some unusual behavior in the wake of her mother’s disappearance and, ultimately, the discovery of her body: She stole portions of her mother’s diary that detailed her affair.

Instead of turning them over to the police during the home search, she locked them away, revealed them to Michael, and, with his blessing, burned them … even the bits about how she was afraid of Michael.

Chances are, she didn’t do it, but withholding and destroying evidence of a crime is not typical for an innocent person, even one who wants to protect the reputation of the deceased.

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The rival teacher also has our hackles raised right now.

Something is not right with Rory Bowman (Rupert Evans), the fellow faculty member who spearheaded Michael’s suspension in the wake of Sarah’s death.

The energy between Rory and Michael is very, very off, especially when it comes to control of the rugby team and school matters. What’s going on here? It’s a longshot, but we’re keeping an eye on this guy, too, just in case there’s more to the story.

For now, of course, Michael is still the prime suspect, but there are many wheels in motion with this show for the next three episodes, dropping weekly on the service.

Gone, Thursday, Britbox