The Last of Us’ Riley actor also starred in one of the year’s most fun mystery movies

polygon.com:

The Last of Us has had plenty of side-character-focused episodes so far in its first season, which means lots of fun guest actors popping up for just an hour at a time. This week’s episode focused on Ellie’s past and her friendship with a girl named Riley, which meant that it was guest actor Storm Reid’s time to shine.

In Reid’s hands, Riley is headstrong, capable, and smart, if not a little impulsive and maybe too quick to trust an organization she may not fully understand. Even more impressively for this episode, Reid is able to bring a kind of quiet, under-the-surface vulnerability that helps us better understand her relationship with Ellie, and more clearly see all the ways that Riley is in over her head, even if she only has an inkling of that truth herself. But that kind of layered and interesting performance isn’t a surprise, because Reid’s already had a pretty exciting career that includes A Wrinkle in Time, The Invisible Man, Euphoria, and even Missing, one of 2023’s best movies so far.

Missing is a spiritual successor to 2018’s Searching, but it isn’t a direct sequel; it’s more like an anthology series. The movie follows June (Reid), who discovers that her mother has gone missing after going on vacation in Colombia with her shady new boyfriend. June immediately launches into action and does everything she can to find her mom and uncover the larger conspiracy that could have led to her disappearance.

What makes Missing so unique is that it takes place almost entirely inside the confines of computer screens. Characters talk via FaceTime, conversations are caught on webcams, and June’s primary method of snooping involves very precise Google searches and some great social media investigation.

The format makes