Netflix’s ‘I – Sam Worthington and Britt Lower say bringing Harlan Coben’s novel to Netflix demanded painstaking realism—from how a character gets a phone to how escape attempts unfold—while Coben and showrunner Robert Hull frame the series as a uniquely American story roote
When David Burroughs finally gets a reason to believe his son is still alive. it doesn’t come with a calm epiphany. In Netflix’s limited series “I Will Find You. ” the evidence arrives just as he’s serving a jail sentence for a murder he insists he didn’t commit—and the story snaps into a prison break and rescue attempt.
Sam Worthington, 49, plays Burroughs. Britt Lower, 40, plays Rachel Mills, the ex-sister-in-law who teams with him once the possibility of the child being alive pulls both of them into a fast-moving mission. All eight episodes are streaming now.
Worthington and Lower say the intensity of Coben’s page-turning premise was matched by a practical challenge: the two characters at the center of the action have no experience with prison breaks or rescue attempts. The result. they describe. was a set of questions they brought directly to producers as they filmed—small details that helped the escape feel lived-in rather than glossed over.
Worthington jokes that he didn’t want the characters to resemble “Wonder Twins. ” explaining instead that he wanted “a real relationship between them that felt authentic in this melodramatic world.” To make that authenticity hold up inside a scenario built for momentum. he says they pressed producers on how the mechanics of flight would work—such as how their characters obtained a phone. changed out of smelly clothes. or managed to get something to eat while attempting to escape authorities.
Lower’s character, she says, added another layer to the work. Her explanation is tied closely to the role’s emotional positioning: “My character’s a journalist who’s usually on the other side of the notebook. and now she’s all of a sudden in the story.” She describes both Rachel and David as learning in real time how to operate inside a propulsive getaway that quickly turns into a mission to find the kid together.
Her portrayal. she adds. is “anchored” by Rachel’s relationship with her sister and by David’s ex-wife. Cheryl (Erin Richards). Lower says she doesn’t have a sister in real life. but that she felt “so kindred with Erin.” She also points out a striking coincidence from production: Erin Richards was pregnant while filming. and her character was pregnant too—something Lower says shaped the set’s sense of care: “This is a person stewarding life right now.”.
“I think Harlan’s series go to the core of what you’re willing to do to protect your family,” Lower adds.
Harlan Coben. who has had over a dozen of his novels adapted to film or TV. ties “I Will Find You” to personal experience as well as his craft. He says his personal life influenced the story, which is set in New York and Boston. Coben, 64, was raised in New Jersey and grew up vacationing at Revere Beach in Massachusetts.
He also emphasizes the father-son dimension of the limited series. Besides Burroughs’ attempt to find the son he believes is alive. the story explores the relationship between two other fathers and their sons: mobster Nicky Fisher (Clancy Brown) and prison warden Phillip MacKenzie (Peter Outerbridge).
Coben says the theme is personal in a way that goes beyond the plot. He is a father of four, and he also points to the loss of his own father—who died from heart issues when he was 26—as something that impacts him “a lot of the stuff that I do… like it or not.”
Coben’s connection to family isn’t the only reason he describes the series as an American story. “I Will Find You” marks the first Coben Netflix adaptation to originate in the U.S. Coben and showrunner Robert Hull both connect the adaptation’s setting—and the prison break at the heart of the premise—to an American tone. Coben calls it “a uniquely American story. ” saying the series captured attention through the idea of “this man who starts so broken. ” and referencing the opening line: “I’m serving the fifth year of a life sentence for murdering my own child and spoiler alert: I didn’t do it.”.
Worthington echoes that framing about the opening situation. He says the emotional and physical worst-case setup is the point: “I think Harlan’s idea was that he put the character in the worst situation you could imagine emotionally and physically. The idea is: how do you find hope?”
In Worthington’s telling, hope takes shape through Rachel’s offer of a potential photo of the kid still being alive. From there, he says, the characters build on the possibility as the series progresses.
Hull, meanwhile, puts the focus on the human stakes rather than the mechanical satisfaction of a mystery. He says, “I think solving the mystery doesn’t mean much if you don’t care about who’s solving it. That’s really what the show’s about.”
By the time the ending rolls around, Coben hopes viewers are moved for the right reason. He says he wants the audience to be “genuinely moved” by the story—an outcome that. in the series’ own logic. depends on more than a getaway and a rescue attempt. It depends on whether Burroughs and Rachel can trust each other enough to keep building hope when the circumstances refuse to soften.
Netflix I Will Find You Harlan Coben Sam Worthington Britt Lower Robert Hull prison break thriller limited series New York Boston