This interview contains spoilers for I Will Find You.
Summary
- Sam Worthington and Britt Lower break down I Will Find You’s most complex moments and dynamics.
- Britt Lower outlines the major similarities and differences between I Will Find You and Severance.
- Sam Worthington reveals the 20-year connection to Harlan Coben he didn’t realize he had.
Sam Worthington has made a name for himself by starring in some of the biggest action films of all time. From playing the lead in the record-breaking Avatar series to appearing in fantasy films like Clash of the Titans and Oscar-winning war epic Hacksaw Ridge, he’s no stranger to intense, thrilling projects. The same can be said for Britt Lower, albeit in a slightly different way, as she’s best known for her Emmy-winning performance in Apple TV’s brilliant and often shocking sci-fi series Severance, though her resume also includes quirky comedies like Man Seeking Woman, Casual, and High Maintenance.
Worthington and Lower’s previous roles have prepared them well for I Will Find You, the newest Harlan Coben mystery to be adapted into a TV series. The show centers around a man named David (Worthington), who has been incarcerated for murdering his young son, Matthew (Ashton Cressman), despite maintaining his innocence. Things get more complicated when his sister-in-law, Rachel (Lower), visits him in prison and shows him a recent photograph of a boy who looks exactly like Matthew. The quest for the truth leads to a prison break, a nationwide manhunt, and several dangerous conspiracies. Who can you trust when it seems like everyone is keeping secrets?
Collider got the opportunity to speak to Worthington and Lower about the project. During the conversation, the duo broke down some of the show’s most complex scenes and relationships, as well as their first encounters with Coben’s work. Lower also discussed the biggest similarities and differences between Rachel and Helly and what drew her to the project.
Sam Worthington and Britt Lower Break Down ‘I Will Find You’s Most Complex Moments and Relationships
“We meet them at this inflection point in this family’s life, and it all starts to get murky in hindsight.”
COLLIDER: This whole show is very intense, but one moment that really sticks out to me is the Sophie’s Choice situation that David finds himself in in Episode 6, where Nicky asks him to choose between his father and his son’s life. Sam, how did you prepare for that particular moment?
SAM WORTHINGTON: Yeah, I like that moment. I thought we could push it even more, to be honest with you. I think we did some takes where we pushed it emotionally more, because you’re exactly right, it is a Sophie’s Choice moment. And he actually makes a very crazy choice, to be honest, considering he doesn’t know what’s around the corner. But I thought we could have emotionally pushed it even further. How do you prepare? I don’t know. I play off other actors. If I’m surrounded by great actors, then that’s gonna help me get better. I’m only as good as the person I’m opposite.
Speaking of that, this whole cast is incredible, and there’s this dynamic between Rachel and Hayden that is so interesting and complex. I’m curious for you, Britt, how did you and Milo build this chemistry together, knowing that it was going to take this very dark and twisted turn? Because you really have the audience root for them, but then you also maybe kind of want to foreshadow a little bit of what’s to come. How did you find the balance with him to make that relationship work?
BRITT LOWER: Well, Britt and Milo had a totally instant friendship, because we both have Airstreams, and we immediately bonded over talking about winterizing our trailers. I think our friendship was forged immediately there. The relationship with Hayden and Rachel is one of those unique ones where they’ve remained friends after they’ve broken up, which is a very particular kind of dynamic. I think Rachel, to a certain extent, is unaware how she might have been the one who got away for Hayden. I think playing with how much she was aware or not of that was interesting to me. And then we meet them at this inflection point in this family’s life, and it all starts to get murky in hindsight.
Sam Worthington Loves Playing Action Heroes With Gooey Centers
“It’s all about hard muscle and soft muscle and what that means.”
Sam, you have this amazing range with your acting, but I do feel like you’ve been carving out this niche of action hero guys who have this warm, parental core. I’m curious what you enjoy about roles with that combination. And what did this series allow you to do that you feel like you haven’t really gotten to yet in your career?
WORTHINGTON: I like exploring that hard muscle, soft muscle. I think that’s something that I kind of enjoy. I’ve explored it for a long time now. The people who have this armor, and what they do to hide their true selves and hide their vulnerabilities, in genres like this, you can explore it more with that kind of character. The next chapter of my life, I’ve gotta go and explore something else that’s deep and dark and inside me that I need to kind of get out and figure out, because I think I’m running out. I’m hitting the max.
It’s funny, when you’re in your 20s, you’re cast as the hero. When you’re in your 30s, you’re cast as something else. You’re 40, you have kids, and you’re cast as the fathers, the parental, and the protectors. I’m about to hit that fifth chapter, so who knows where that’s gonna take me?
I mean, you’re so great at it, so I would love for you to keep playing that role as long as possible!
WORTHINGTON: As I said, it’s all about hard muscle and soft muscle and what that means. It’s an exploration of masculinity that maybe I didn’t see in characters in movies when I was growing up. Sometimes, they were very one-dimensional, and I’ve even played characters that are very one-dimensionally heroic. That doesn’t interest me. What interests me is, what are they hiding? What are they protecting? What’s on the outside, and how’s that impacting what’s inside? You’ve always, then, got a conflict going on, regardless of what the outer conflict is.
Britt Lower Talks About the Similarities and Differences Between ‘I Will Find You’ and ‘Severance’
“They have the shared DNA of being dogged on a mission.”
Speaking of similarities between characters, Britt, I feel like there’s a scrappiness in this quest for the truth that both Rachel and Helly have. As a Severance fan, I’m so curious, what do you think a conversation between the two of them would look like?
LOWER: Oh, wow. You’re right — they have the shared DNA of being dogged on a mission. I think the thing I was drawn to about Rachel that is different from Helly and the Severance world is that Rachel’s outside. She’s on a very clear, active mission in the real world — on the road — and it’s really rooted in this family system. Obviously, Helly’s family is a whole different kind of surreal scramble, but maybe they talk about their families.
Oh, I like that. I want to see that now.
LOWER: And then they’d go to therapy together.
That would probably be good for both of them, yeah. I’m sure you can’t tell me much about Season 3 of Severance, but I’m curious if you took anything away from filming I Will Find You that you feel like really helped you step back into that world.
LOWER: Hm, I’m not sure. It’s such a fascinating question. I’m very excited to go back and film Season 3 — it’s just such a love of mine. And it was great to do this project that is really different. It’s this propulsive crime drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat and makes you want to click on the next episode, and we worked really hard to make sure it was rooted in the emotionality of these characters, their dynamics together, and the authenticity of two people who have lost everything and are coming to this inflection point in their lives and going on a mission to save Matthew.
Sam Worthington and Britt Lower Reveal How They Discovered Harlan Coben’s Work
“She was the one who said, ‘You gotta talk to the guy.’”
Harlan Coben is obviously such a major talent in this mystery and thriller genre. I’m curious if you guys remember your first ever exposure to his work.
WORTHINGTON: Mine was Tell No One. I’m friends with [director] Guillaume Canet, so I remember seeing that years ago, not actually understanding that it was Harlan’s work, to be honest. It was only when Harlan brought it back up. And then my wife binges all of them. She was the one who said, “You gotta talk to the guy,” because she loves all the twists and turns, the red herrings, the cliffhangers. She loves all of that.
LOWER: I was certainly aware of Harlan Coben, but I really didn’t get a deep dive until I read the book, and then got to read the pilot and the subsequent episodes next to it. There’s lots for folks who read the novel and watch the series — there’s some subtle differences that were really intentional that I think will be fun for people to discover. Harlan was talking about this earlier. You have to craft different twists and turns for a novel than you do for a series, because it’s a visual medium. I think it’s gonna be really fun for people to watch.
WORTHINGTON: The books are the books. You don’t just recreate the book — the book is a bouncing-off point to recreate the Harlan Coben series. That’s how he looks at it.
I was really struck by the ending to the show, because it feels very satisfying and hopeful, but also grounded in the truth that things are not going to be perfect. There’s going to be some difficult roads ahead for all of them. I’m curious what you think is next for your characters after the final scenes that we see.
LOWER: They’re all gonna go to therapy again. Like I said, everybody needs therapy. [Laughs] But they’re together. I think it’s a really earned quiet moment for the whole family. Matthew’s holding his little sister, and [to Sam] you guys have that beautiful scene on the porch, father and son, where they’re present with each other. And that’s what family is. You move through the hardest of times, and then you put one foot in front of the other, and you have each other’s backs.
I Will Find You is now streaming on Netflix.
- Release Date
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June 18, 2026
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Robert Hull
- Directors
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Adam Davidson, Maggie Kiley, Maja Vrvilo, Brad Anderson
- Writers
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Robert Hull, Harlan Coben
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