Right now, the new mystery thriller I Will Find You is topping the streaming charts on Netflix worldwide, per FlixPatrol. The eight-episode series, which premiered on June 18, 2026, stars Avatar’s Sam Worthington and Severance star Britt Lower, and follows a twisty, dangerous journey of a father uncovering a dark conspiracy to track down his long-lost son. And while the story and its characters are all new to the streaming service, viewers of the show might not realize I Will Find You is part of a much bigger franchise.
Since 2018, Netflix has created one of its most successful franchises to date in collaboration with mystery novelistHarlan Coben. Over the years, their partnership has produced a whopping 13 mystery TV shows, including 2024’s Fool Me Once, which became one of Netflix’s most-watched thrillers of all-time, and Run Away, which surpassed Stranger Things after its release earlier this year. I Will Find You is just the latest addition to the expansive franchise, and further proof that Netflix’s collaboration with Coben has become one of the streamer’s most reliable franchises ever.
The Harlan Coben Franchise Is a Gold Mine for Netflix
Looking at Coben’s franchise with Netflix, there are a few key reasons why it’s been so successful. For starters, all the 13 shows so far have told distinct, one-season stories. So while some mysteries might be more intricate and unexpected than others, by the finale, the story is not only wrapped up, but there are famously no loose ends, cliffhangers, or teasers for Season 2. For the viewer, that not only indicates a binge that’s satisfactory and climactic by the end, but a watch that is easy to get into. After all, without having to know any of Coben’s TV shows, a Netflix viewer can press play on any of the shows that speak to them, get sucked into the mystery, and reach a satisfying conclusion by the time the finale rolls along. It’s a consistent, effective formula that the franchise delivers each time.
With such a reliable set format, the franchise finds its success in viewers not only knowing what they’re getting into, but also knowing that the stories are based on Coben’s bestselling, nail-biting novels. Those two points together, combined, of course, with impressive casts like Worthington and Lower, make the franchise an easy to sell to viewers, without having to rely on blockbuster branding. So while some Netflix hits might require extra branding and marketing budget for its other shows, Coben’s franchise appeals to the masses without having to spend much at all.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
The Harlan Coben Franchise Is a Consistent Streaming Hit
With that said, however, Coben’s TV shows on Netflix haven’t been universally well-received. On Rotten Tomatoes, several titles from the franchise have received a disapproving rating, like Gone for Good‘s disappointing 37% from viewers, Missing You‘s 50% from critics and Run Away reaching only 37% from the public. Some common critiques are the shows leaning into soapy, overdramatic storylines, or having too drawn-out, overcomplicated mysteries.
Harlan Coben’s new Netflix crime thriller ‘I Will Find You’ has debuted to a divisive critical response on Rotten Tomatoes.
But while the numbers alone might tell another story, the franchise has continued to top streaming charts after each release. I Will Find You immediately rose to #1 worldwide by June 19, aka the day after its release. Run Away went on to reach over 38 million views worldwide and spent four weeks on the streamer’s global Top 10 chart, while Coben’s biggest show to date, Fool Me Once, garnered a whopping 98.2 million views in its first 91 days on the platform. The numbers are astronomical, and prove that while critical reception and audience approval might not be a given, Netflix viewers consistently respond to Coben’s addictive mystery formula.
As Coben’s 13th TV show with Netflix, I Will Find You, currently reigns supreme on the platform, there’s no better time than now to reflect on how successful the franchise has been. With 13 shows, 13 mind-bending one-season mysteries, and millions of views, the collaboration has found a formula that works consistently, making it an easy, satisfying watch for viewers time and time again. So while the franchise is impressive already, the potential to keep the formula going is almost limitless.
