Okay, so you’ve just binge-watched the latest Netflix mega hit, I Will Find You, and now have no idea what to watch next? Here are a few shows that share some similarities with I Will Find You that you may be into – once you’ve had a chance to digest that ending!
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It’d been about a month since the kids last got sick when I woke up to the sound of another chorus of coughing.
“Dang, you were on a good health streak there,” messaged my friend who also has young kids and is somehow currently on a sickness of cycle that’s taking them down every other week. Such is winter with children?!
Of course, the kids were already over it by the time it came for me, so once my husband came home from work to take over, I crawled into bed and turned on the TV looking for a distraction from my scratchy throat, pounding head and crawling skin.
This is when I found I Will Find You – a Harlan Coben thriller short series which is currently in the Top 10 shows on Netflix. It actually came out last month and has broken records in the States – racking up more than 85 million in its first four weeks and staying #1 for a full month.
Look, the show is pretty darn batshit. It’s like a fever dream at times – which in my opinion makes it kinda perfect for bingeing when you’re holed up in bed with an actual fever.
It delivers on exactly what you’d hope from a Harlan Coben show – in fact, I think this is probably the best one yet.
If you’re new to this and the words Harlan Coben – essentially he’s a prolific thriller/mystery writer, having written about 35 adult and young adult novels. About 18 of those are standalone thrillers – and the majority of those have now been turned into hit limited series TV shows.
They’re wild, fast paced stories often involving murder, missing persons or cases of mistaken identity – often the storylines get completely insane and implausible, but heck they’re a lot of fun to watch. And they often manage to draw in some great actors.
This latest one, I Will Find You, stars Sam Worthington (yes, from Avatar) as a dad, David Burroughs, who has been wrongly imprisoned for killing his three-year-old son, Matthew. Five years into his sentence, he agrees to see a visitor – the first he’s said yes to since he arrived in prison. His ex-wife’s sister, Rachel – who also happens to be an investigative journalist – brings him a photo which she believes to be proof that Matthew is still alive…
From there, everything continues to just get crazier. There’s twist after twist – taking the story down one crazy far-fetched path to the next, yet, yes, it’s still very addictive and watchable.
The wider cast is a millennial’s dream. It’s not long before Gilmore Girls’ Milo Ventimiglia turns up, and then Madeleine Stowe (remember Revenge? She played Victoria Grayson – who she pretty much reprises in this show, and hasn’t aged a single day?!?). There’s also Severance’s Britt Lower, The Frightener’s Chi McBride, Gotham’s Erin Richards and Logan Browning.
If you haven’t watched it, and you’re up for something twisty and a little silly, it’s definitely worth a watch.
If you have watched it and you have thoughts about the show, or you’re looking for something to watch next, read on!
SPOILER ALERTS
If you’ve finished watching the show, you might be wrestling with a few thoughts. Maybe, like me, you watched that final episode, thinking, WTAF?
It became pretty clear from the get-go on this show, as David managed to escape prison and evade capture again and again, that to really enjoy this show, you’d have to accept that it was going to defy logic a fair bit. Of course, why wouldn’t David and Rachel be able to outwit everyone, with zero planning involved – of course Rachel would have self-defence skills that would see her easily be able to escape an experienced assassin!
The bit I just caaaan’t get onboard with though, is well, what turns out to basically be the entire plot. So, Hayden meets Matthew and puts it together that this could be his son – but instead of going and getting a paternity test and then using the seemingly unlimited resources available to him, gain custody of his rightful son, he… doesn’t get a test done until after he’s kidnapped the child?
No, instead of getting a DNA test done, he finds a terminally ill boy who could pass for Matthew, kills him, sets up a hugely elaborate crime scene in the home of the boy’s parents, whose entire family is made up of cops, fudge all the blood samples at the lab, frame the father, have him serve a life sentence, pay off a series of people inside the prison – and out of it – to keep a lid on things and then go about the very risky reality of bringing up the son with a very distinguishable birth mark on his face, without anyone cottoning on?!?! Oh, and then the DNA test reveals it wasn’t your son to start off with?
What??
Anyhoo, if despite being very silly, you still enjoyed watching (look, that’s me!) here’s five other shows you’re probably going to enjoy too!
Fool Me Once
Okay, this one’s an easy first bet. It’s another recent Harlan Coben adaptation, that’s pretty slick (and far fetched!) starring Michelle Keegan (she used to be on Coronation Street) and Richard Armitage (Lord of the Rings).
Without giving away too much of the plot, Michelle stars as Maya Stern, a former army-captain who is very recently widowed. She begins to search for answers when she spots her deceased husband (Richard Armitage) on a nanny camera. Harlan just loves a ‘surprise! they’re not actually dead!’ kind of story twist.
The cast also includes Joanna Lumley who is sensational, playing Maya’s mother-in-law. These shows may be silly, but they sure know how to cast them!
Where to watch it: Netflix
Stay Close
Yes, okay, this is another Harlan Coben show, but I promise this is the last one on the list. Fool Me Once was the biggest Harlan show Netflix had until I Will Find You came along. BUT before everyone was talking about these shows, Netflix already had about eight shows of his on their platform – and of them, personally I think this is one of the better ones. And I’m not the only one. It has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 80% of Google Users liked it (although it only has a 6.9 rating on imdb).
It stars Richard Armitage (a total theme of these shows – he’s in about three of them?) as Ray, James Nesbitt (You will recognise him – he’s been in a zillion things, including Lord of the Rings… and yes, other Harlan shows!) as Broome and Cush Jumbo (The Good Wife) as Megan.
The story follows the three characters: There’s Ray, who was a once-promising documentary photographer who is now stuck in a dead-end job, pandering to celebrity-obsessed rich kids. Then Broome, who is a detective, still haunted by a missing person’s cold case, which he just can’t let go of. And finally Megan, a working mother of three who is caught off guard when an old friend from her past delivers some shocking news that will impact on all three characters – threatening to ruin their lives, as well as the lives of all of those around them.
Where to watch it: Netflix
Presumed Innocent
If you love a thriller that has you on the edge of your seat, right till the very end – one of the absolute best in recent years has got to be Presumed Innocent.
It has a stellar cast (do you really need any more info to be sold on watching this other than Jake Gyllenhaal is the lead?), is beautifully shot and keeps you on the edge of your goddam seat each week.
The plot follows Jake’s character Rusty – a prosecutor, who is called with terrible news: one of his colleagues, a fellow prosecutor Carolyn, has been viciously murdered. Rusty begins investigating the case, but is soon pulled off the case when A) it is revealed that he was having an affair with Carolyn and B) he’s subsequently charged with her murder.
It’s a lot slicker than I Will Find You – and, a little less insane!
Where to watch it: Apple TV
All Her Fault
It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.
You’ve organised a playdate for your child after school (you and your partner are tied up at work), but when you turn up to the address to pick up your child, they’re not there.
In fact, no one at that address has ever heard of them. Was it a typo? Some sort of auto-correct mistake that sent you to the wrong address? As your panic rises, things only spiral downwards as you discover the school mum you thought was with your child, is actually at work themselves, they never got in touch with you (it wasn’t even their phone number!) and have no idea where your child is. Someone has pretended to be them. Your child is missing.
This is the haunting beginning to the thriller, All Her Fault. It has a fab cast, including Sarah Snook from Succession, Jake Lacy from The White Lotus (that’s right, the disgruntled honeymooner who began it all in season one), Abby Elliot from The Bear and Michael Peña from Landman – oh, plus Dakota Fanning, for good measure.
It’s slick, addictive and will have you on the edge of your seat.
Where to watch it: TVNZ+
Defending Jacob
After discovering that his son might still be alive, David Burroughs was prepared to stop for nothing on I Will Find You. Which there’s definitely a big link to in Defending Jacob – a crime thriller that again, really tests the limits on how far a father will go for his son.
It stars Chris Evans (who is great in it, but is slighlty jarring seeing him in something so serious?), Michelle Dockery (amazing as always) and Jaeden Martell (brilliant).
Essentially Chris Evans plays Andy, an Assistant District Attorney who is living a content suburban life with his wife Laurie and their 14-year-old son, Jacob. That is, until a classmate of Jacob is found stabbed to death in the park near their school. Andy and a detective begin questioning students at the school without much luck. Things take one hell of a turn in the very first episode when Andy finds a knife in Jacob’s room that fits the description of the murder weapon…
Where to watch it: Apple TV
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