Spoiler alert: This story contains important storylines and details from “I Will Find You,” now streaming on Netflix.
Sam Worthington credits his wife for her role in one of Netflix’s most successful series, I Will Find You.
In the drama, the latest from novelist Harlan Coben, Worthington plays David Burroughs, a prisoner convicted of assaulting his young son Matthew to death. After spending five years in prison, the Boston Globe reporter’s sister-in-law Rachel, played by Britt Lauer, helps David escape in order to prove not only his innocence, but that his son is still alive. Rounding out the cast are Milo Ventimiglia as Rachel’s extremely wealthy ex-boyfriend Hayden and Madeline Stowe as her seemingly evil mother. Logan Browning and Chi McBride play FBI agents pursuing David.
“My wife is a Harlan fan, and she was the one who said, ‘You should take that call,'” Worthington recalls of when producers first approached him about the project. “I said, ‘Why?’ And she said, ‘I want to see this because you don’t do what I want to see.’ To be honest, that’s where it started. It was her instinct. ”
Like any other Coben series, there are countless twists and turns. I was immediately hooked and binge-watched all eight episodes over the weekend.
“We got an early copy of it,” Worthington said. “My wife and 11-year-old son were binge drinking just like you. They just wouldn’t stop.”
Netflix announced that “I Will Find You” was watched 24 million times in its first four days, making it the streamer’s biggest series debut of 2026. “Harlan said to me, ‘If you do the math, if you have three people in a household, that’s 60 million people,'” says Worthington. “I thought that was pretty incredible.”
David Burrows is a man of few words. His mission is to find his son, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to do that. In other words, David becomes an action hero of sorts. But Worthington sees things a little differently. He told Corben and the producers to cut much of the dialogue. “Give others explanations and allow David to feel the emotions and feel the story through David,” says Worthington. “Oddly, this book is less heroic than I thought it would be, because the producers and Harlan had always wanted Britt’s character, Rachel, to be the main character and David to play the damsel in distress. They were more I thought it was a very strange approach because I was looking for a heroic protagonist, but I thought it was a different way to approach the genre, and it allowed me to not get sucked into the pulpy and dramatic turn that I needed. ”
Worthington was willing to do most of the stunt work himself, but was denied permission because of his role in Avatar. “There were a lot of things we couldn’t do because of Disney’s Avatar contract,” he says. “They said, “That’s not allowed.” I said, “Why not?” Eager. I’m ready. You can do this. ‘They were like, ‘James Cameron won’t let you.’ ”
As “I Will Find You” unfolds, David and Rachel grow closer. At several points, there are hints of romance brewing. The finale includes a shot of the two holding hands. “She’s his sister-in-law, so I always thought that was very strange,” Worthington says of the duo’s broadcast audience. “I think we probably held back on the big romantic kiss for that reason. I think it would have been more of a telenovela than a melodrama. It might have been too much. But ultimately, I like that there’s this simple gesture, because this story is about hope.”
Hayden is eventually revealed to be Matthew’s kidnapper. He is so eager to protect Matthew as his son that he is willing to kill anyone who gets in his way, including the detective he violently stones to death and his mother, whom he shoots. “The series starts out pretty naturalistic, but then it becomes more operatic,” says Worthington. “By the time Hayden kills his mother and then kills a detective from another country, you know we’re in a different genre.”
As for the second season, Worthington jokes that Matthew may need a lot of therapy, not only because of the trauma of the kidnapping, but also because he has to transition from a very spoiled and wealthy life to working-class Boston. Worthington laughs and says, “You took that kid away from this rich man’s big house. Does he have any grudge against David?”
