Entertainment

Netflix's Trailer For 'The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann' Will Give You Chills

by Gillian Walters

Calling all true crime aficionados: Netflix has released a new trailer for The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The clip, which dropped Thursday, explores every conspiracy theory related to the May 2007 disappearance of then 3-year-old and British national Madeleine McCann, who was on vacation in Portugal with her family at the time.

Netflix, along with other streaming networks, is on a true crime kick, so it's not too shocking that the company is now covering the McCann case. The investigative docu-series — which began production in 2017 — "blends interviews with more than 40 contributors, 120 hours of interviews, archival news footage and reenactments," according to Deadline, and it features "interviews with investigators, journalists and friends of the McCann family."

Interestingly enough, the docu-series doesn't include interviews with Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.

The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann's mainly focuses on the many conspiracy theories surrounding Madeleine's vanishing. There are a ton of unanswered questions surrounding the night Madeleine disappeared from her family's hotel room in the Algarve region of Portugal, especially where it concerns who might have been involved in the case. From the accusations lodged at Kate and Gerry to the possibility of child sex trafficking, there's a lot of ground to cover.

If you're not already familiar with the case, there are a few prevailing theories about how and why Madeleine went missing from the Praia da Luz resort.

One of the ideas centers around Kate and Gerry, who were out dining with friends at a nearby restaurant on the resort's property at the time of Madeleine's disappearance. The parents — along with their friends —would periodically check on Madeleine and the other kids she in the room with, including her younger twin siblings, according to the Daily Mail.

In the beginning of the investigation, Portuguese authorities reportedly believed that Madeleine accidentally overdosed on sleeping medication that Kate and Gerry allegedly gave her that night, according to The Telegraph.

In September 2007, Portuguese authorities named the couple as suspects, and claimed to have found traces of Madeleine's blood in their rental car, according to People. “They have suggested that blood has been found in a car that they hired 25 days after Madeleine was taken,” then family spokeswoman, Justine McGuinness, said at the time, according to The New York Times. “Anyone who knows Kate would say to make an allegation of this kind about her is just completely ludicrous.”

Almost two years later, the parents were officially cleared as suspects, according to ABC News. It's also important to note that Kate and Gerry have consistently maintained their innocence throughout the years and they've since hired private investigators to look into their daughter's disappearance.

Another theory rests on the idea that someone broke into the McCann family's hotel room, abducted Madeleine, and then sold her into child sex trafficking or an illegal adoption ring, according to CNN.

Then there's the possibility that Madeleine woke up in the middle of the night to find her parents missing, and that she accidentally died while searching for them, according to The Sun.

If you're eager to find an answer to the big question what happened to Madeleine, this eight-part docu-series probably isn't for you. Instead of focusing on solving the disappearance, the project will dive deeper into the aforementioned theories. " ... it was time to look at the case … closely and forensically, in a way that had never been laid out," co-creator Emma Cooper told The Atlantic. Translation: this series is great for people who want more background on the case.

The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann premieres on Friday, March 15, on Netflix.