With TV shows now investing in love triangles with siblings, is Netflix’s I Will Find You joining the trend by having a character date his sister-in-law?
Harlan Coben‘s novel was adapted as a miniseries where David (Sam Worthington) gets help from his former-sister-in-law Rachel (Britt Lower) when searching for his son. Despite Rachel seemingly rekindling her romance with ex Hayden (Milo Ventimiglia), the show ended with both her and David single.
The final scene showed Rachel reaching out to hold David’s hand — but does that mean they will get together?
“That is meant to indicate what I truly wanted to do — and this is a little different from the book,” creator Robert Hull exclusively told Us Weekly. “My goal was to make you want them to be together.”
Hull broke down the vision, adding, “Whether they are or not, I think is left open because I think there’s different definitions of soulmates and I think the journey that they’ve gone on, they’re so connected. If that turns romantic all the better, but I just wanted people rooting for it. After that, my job’s done.”
While reflecting on the moment, Hull recalled the challenges.
“We loved it. The challenge for us was with this type of story and this type of pace. We never wanted to cross the line and turn it into the expected,” he told Us. “Because we wanted to keep Rachel as a colead and have her own story.”
Hull continued: “But honestly, she saves David a lot more in the series than David saves her. So what I loved about Harlan’s idea — and what we wanted to do is by the end it’s Rachel’s story — is one of the coolest twists there to make it about somebody other than the person you thought it was about.”
Coben also weighed in on the shakeup, telling Us, “I want you the audience to think about it. I hope this is one of those stories where you’re wondering … I’d love to ask you where you think all these characters are in a year and see what you think. I’m optimistic. I’m an optimist. I think the story’s so deep and he goes through so much that I want the best for them. I hope you do too.”
I Will Find You, which is streaming now, follows David Burroughs (Worthington), who is wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his son then receives information that his son may still be alive. In addition to Worthington, Lower and Ventimiglia, the show stars Erin Richards, Jonathan Tucker and Madeleine Stowe. Clancy Brown, Logan Browning and Vas Saranga make up the rest of the cast.
“The biggest challenge for us was also our biggest asset,” Hull recalled to Us about the experience. “Which is that very early on Harlan and I wanted to really shoot in the real world. We didn’t build a lot of sets.”
He added: “We were out on real streets, relocations, real stunts, real wirework, because even with visual effects, there’s nothing that can replace putting an incredible actor in a real location and just letting them bring it to life. Once you do that, your job’s kind of done.”
Hull spoke to Us about how the novel had to change for the screen, saying, “First and foremost, I’m a custodian of the novel and I was first and foremost a fan of Harlan’s and a fan of the novel. The DNA is there and the heart of the show is there if you read the book.”
I Will Find You is streaming on Netflix now.
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