[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 2 of Found.]

The Big Picture

In Season 2 of the NBC series ‘Found,’ Gabi, played by Shanola Hampton, faces the consequences of keeping her kidnapper in her basement, leading to tension and betrayal among her team.
Season 2 explores Gabi’s vulnerability, brokenness, and the team’s changed dynamics after her secret is exposed.
Shaking up the successful show with Sir on the loose adds suspense, anxiety, and a new dynamic, keeping the audience engaged.

When the NBC series Found, following kidnapping survivor turned advocate for the missing, Gabi Mosley (Shanola Hampton), debuted in the fall of 2023, it immediately struck a chord with viewers when they discovered she was keeping her childhood kidnapper chained in her basement. Since then, Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) escaped and has spent Season 2 as a looming threat to the entire team of M&A. And tension between them is at an all-time high while they continue to work on cases together, even though they know about Gabi’s betrayal in keeping such a huge secret that puts them all in danger and sparks Detective Mark Trent (Brett Dalton) to compile a case against her.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Hampton discussed playing a Gabi that has to face her own actions and take responsibility for the affect they have on others, rebuilding trust with her team, how showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll has a very clear artistic vision for the show, shaking things up instead of resting in success, missing the regular scenes she used to have with Gosselaar, the benefit of a 22-episode network TV season, and whether Sir should ever be humanized as a character.

Shanola Hampton’s ‘Found’ Character Is an Undeniably Flawed Hero
Image via NBC

Collider: In the first season, Gabi was able to stay focused and keep moving forward with this guy in her basement because nobody knew she was doing it. No one really can call you on your shit if they don’t know what shit they should be calling you on. How is actually having to face her own actions and take responsibility affecting her in Season 2?

SHANOLA HAMPTON: It’s really great to see a character who is the “hero” have to experience the flaws of what it is to be a human being, so the effects are great. She is really at her lowest of low. You’re seeing her very vulnerable, very broken, very much wanting forgiveness, but also wanting to pay for what she did. All of those things factor into who she is, with the guilt of it and the shame of it. She’s unsure of herself. So many layers come up in Season 2 for Gabi, after exposing her secret.

It’s fascinating to watch her decide she doesn’t want to deal with something and block it out versus when she has to deal with something and can’t avoid it. That’s also reflected in how each of her team looks at her differently now.

HAMPTON: Yeah, they don’t look at her as this person who is the be-all, end-all, what she says goes, and she also has to battle with that. Theirs is a certain amount of respect that she commanded throughout her life, that was all part of her control, in the best sense because she loved these people so much, and that’s been broken. She doesn’t even know how to navigate these relationships because the dynamics are so new.

Related Gabi and Sir Wreak Havoc in ‘Found’ Season 2 Trailer The series returns on October 3rd.

Keeping Sir chained in the basement and going to him to get help with cases was a huge part of the first season. How scary was it to take a show that was successful and shake it up?

HAMPTON: That’s a great question. I’m gonna be honest with you, I did not know how we were gonna do it. That’s not my lane, and I try to stay in mine. I was like, “Oh, we’re already letting him out of the basement Season 1? What are we doing? We could have carried this on for a little while longer.” But NK (Nkechi Okoro Carroll) and Sonay [Hoffman], our co-showrunners, really knew what they wanted to do, and I would say, without a doubt, they hands on accomplished something. The energy, the pulse of the season, the anxiety, the cat and mouse chase with Sir being on the loose added an entire element. I can’t describe how exciting this season is because of that, and it is a new beat to the drum because there are no chains between Sir and Gabi anymore. What does that mean? The audience really experiences that anxiety with us.

It’s hard to get a TV show on the air. It’s also hard to get past the pilot to get a season. The show does that, and it gets all the success that it has, and then you really changed things up for Season 2. It takes a lot of balls to do that.

HAMPTON: It does. An artistic vision is what it takes. It takes seeing past the first season. Our showrunner, NK, already has five seasons in her mind. It’s very thought out. It’s very felt out. More than anything, you can feel the energy because it comes from a place that has already had so much thought behind it.

Shanola Hampton Misses All Those Season 1 Scenes With ‘Found’ Co-Star Mark-Paul Gosselaar
Image via NBC

Have you been surprised at all the ways that these two characters can come into each other’s paths while also still keeping them apart?

HAMPTON: Yeah. On a personal level, I miss not being in scenes with Mark-Paul [Gosselaar]. He is such an escape for me, as an artist, and those scenes with him just make my week shorter and are wonderful days. But from the standpoint of what the audience experiences, with him lingering around, not knowing when he’s gonna show up, and not knowing when these two characters are gonna be in the same room again, not only do you long for it, it satisfies once you get it because you don’t get it with every episode. That is why a week-to-week show works so well. It gives that anticipation of, “Okay, will it be next week? Oh, wait, I just saw the preview and I think that they’re gonna be in the same room.” Even that is an additive to why Season 2 has such a great energy behind it.

It’s so funny, I love the show so much, but I don’t think I could watch it if all the episodes dropped at once because I think it might give me a heart attack from anxiety.

HAMPTON: It really could. There’s something to be said about that. Believe me, I’m a binger like the rest of ‘em, but with this show, you need a break. Forget about binging, you need a commercial break. Bring on the commercial. Toothpaste, let me look at you.

Related ‘Found’ Season 2 Gets a Twisty Update From Stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar & Shanola Hampton Season 2 premieres this fall on NBC.

Did you make any specific suggestions about things that you wanted to see in the second season? Especially after you do a first season of a show, you get to know a character so well. Were the wheels turning in your head?

HAMPTON: Absolutely not. I am such a big believer in every single person having their artistic integrity and respect. Our writers and our showrunners know it better than me. Generally speaking, whatever they give me is what I’m going to do. I really knew that I could trust NK’s vision, and that’s the power of having people that you respect and trust. So, no, I didn’t offer anything. My service is my face and my mouth to say the words.

Everyone in Gabi’s life is super angry with her and they’re finding their own ways to deal with that. What was it like to turn her into the villain for her team?

HAMPTON: What’s great about it is, because NBC has given us the luxury of having 22 episodes to really flush this out, you don’t see that forgiveness happen for quite a while. As the actress behind her, I was like, “At some point, is this gonna end? Can we forgive Gabi now?” That’s what’s so great about art imitating life. Healing, forgiveness, and all of those things take time. The audience will have to go through their own journey of healing. Those who wanna forgive Gabi can be like, “Forgive her already! You know that man had her locked up when she was a kid!” There are so many different sides and layers to that, and we get to explore that this season in a very real way because of the luxury of time.

Shanola Hampton Loves Having a 22-Episode Season for ‘Found’

A season of 22 episodes used to be expected of network TV, but then we got used to shorter seasons. Especially with an ensemble like this, it gives you time to get to know the other characters better.

HAMPTON: I think that you’re absolutely right. It was a season of not getting full seasons in this way, when came back on the air. NBC was very intentional about wanting to bring network TV back in a real way, doing what they do well with procedurals, but it’s a procedural with a twist. Found is something that fit into their wheelhouse of what they have mastered in that procedural world, and then watching the audiences respond to that first season allowed us to go back to our roots of network television and to do 22. Man, it is so satisfying to be able to flush out a character and watch the other series regulars be explored in a real way, because we get to really dive into the different stories.

After so many actors were seeking out shows with shorter seasons, it’s interesting to see some network shows going back to 22 episodes.

HAMPTON: It’s challenging. I’m very straightforward. It’s not the easiest task, especially for me on a personal level. I live in Los Angeles, and we shoot in Atlanta. It’s a lot of traveling, every single week. So, 22 episodes is a large order, but from the sense of what we’re doing with the storylines and the characters, it’s wonderful. It’s great. I’m so glad the audience gets to go on this ride. I’m happy more for the fans than I am, really, for myself, quite honestly.

Related Memories Haunt Kelli Williams in a ‘Found’ Season 2 Sneak Peek [Exclusive] The next episode of the hit NBC series airs this Thursday.

Sir’s brother is a part of the bigger picture this season. Where bringing in a family member and filling in some gaps normally tends to humanize the character, it feels like Sir has crossed too far over the line to ever be humanized in that way. What do you feel that that character brings to the show? What’s it been like to shine some light on things that Gabi couldn’t have known?

HAMPTON: What’s really fun about our show is that there is one opinion, and one that I agree with, about Sir crossing the line, but a lot of people already started to feel that human instinct when we saw the flashbacks of his mom and how he was treated as a child. That started the beginning of shedding light. So, when you have the character have family members come, of course, it adds a different dynamic. It also causes everyone to pause and to question. These two have grown up in the same household. How much are they are alike? How much are they different? Can you trust him? Can the audience trust him? All of those things continuously add the layers that we want to have in this season. We want everybody asking questions and to have it be a conversation. It’s been really cool. When I was out in the streets, a fan said to me, “How did you make him so evil? Look what you did to him.” There is definitely a feeling that causes conversations, with how human he is.

Found Each year, over 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S., but not all cases receive the proper attention. Gabi Mosely and her crisis management team make sure there is always someone looking out for the forgotten missing people.Release Date October 3, 2023 Seasons 1 Network NBC Showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll Expand

Found airs on NBC and is available to stream on Peacock. Check out the Season 2 trailer:

Watch on Peacock