Les Disparus des Argonnes, Digi Mart USA News: France 2 begins broadcasting the first two episodes of Les Disparus des Argonnes, a four-part mini-series directed by Safy Nebbou, on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, at 9:10 p.m.
The series won the award for best drama/suspense series at the 2026 La Rochelle Fiction Festival. It is adapted from Julie Peyr’s 2022 novel of the same name and is loosely inspired by the unresolved case of the missing men of Mourmelon.
Set in the Argonne region in the early 1980s, the story follows Jocelyne Veyrades, played by Alix Poisson, and her husband Fernand, played by Vincent Deniard, as they wait in vain for their son Gilles, a young conscript on leave. The army suggests he deserted, but his mother rejects that version.
Only Gendarme Janson, played by Félix Moati, and little supported by his superiors, truly listens to her.
Over the years, other young conscripts disappear under similar circumstances. Jocelyne, a modest woman, gradually becomes the voice of the families, confronting the indifference of military and judicial institutions and the limits of the investigation, in an era when silence often prevailed over truth.
The full series has been available on france.tv since late October. The broadcast on France 2 is spread over two evenings, and the series explores grief, the stubborn determination of an ordinary mother, and the failings of a system, blending social drama and crime thriller.
Behind the fictional characters lies the real case of the missing men of Mourmelon. Between 1980 and 1987, at least eight young men, most of them conscripts, vanished near the Mourmelon military camp in the Marne.
The army long favored the desertion theory. The 1988 arrest of Chief Warrant Officer Pierre Chanal, found with a hitchhiker tied up in his vehicle, revived suspicions, but the case never led to a conviction for the disappearances.
Chanal died by suicide in 2003, on the eve of a trial.
Nebbou’s series, co-written with Julie Peyr and Mary Arnaud, does not reconstruct the factual case file; instead it draws on a mother’s fight and a portrait of a society.
In 1982, a body was found in a forest near the barracks. It was not Gilles, but Christophe Pradier, another missing young soldier.
In 1988, Jocelyne testified on the television program Portés Disparus, reviving the case in the media. A gendarme watching the broadcast recalled recently detaining a man under troubling circumstances, which suggested a possible link to the disappearances.
His name was Guy Lachêne.
The cast also includes Cyril Lecomte as Guy Lachêne, Anne Charrier, Aïssa Maïga, Mehdi Nebbou as a television host, and Camille Claris. Critics praised Nebbou’s restrained, precise direction over sensationalism and its nuanced treatment of the 1980s and the quest for justice.
The series is available for streaming and replay on France.tv.
