Netflix Quietly Built a 13-Part Thriller Franchise That Continues to Crush Streaming

Right now, the novel 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, hazardous journey of a father uncovering a dim conspiracy to track down his long-lost son. And while the story and its characters are all novel 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 novelist Harlan 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 broad 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 straightforward 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 straightforward 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

FIND YOUR PARTNER →

01

You’re dropped into a hazardous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner?
The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.

ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them.
BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to employ it against the enemy.
CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart.
DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we’re walking into.
ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

You have to get somewhere hazardous, rapid. How do you travel?
How you get there is half the mission.

AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can’t follow.
BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too challenging about it.
CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire.
DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won’t explain until it’s needed.
EBy whatever means are available — I’ve driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method.

NEXT QUESTION →

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.

ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I’ve reloaded.
BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works.
CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision.
DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive.
ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead.

NEXT QUESTION →

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.

AA bar with terrible lighting, frosty beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings.
BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something high-priced, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting.
CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation.
DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway.
EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you’ve had all week.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission?
Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.

APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost.
BDeadpan and droughty — keeping it delicate keeps me keen, even when everything is on fire.
CEnthusiastic and slightly disordered — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise.
DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven’t thought of yet.
EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently.

NEXT QUESTION →

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.

AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we’re there.
BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past.
CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them.
DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows.
EFind the one thing they haven’t accounted for — there’s always one thing — and make sure we’re holding it.

NEXT QUESTION →

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.

ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there.
BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running.
CCome in thunderous, come in rapid, and worry about the collateral damage later — I’d do the same for them.
DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I’m out — they don’t leave people behind.
ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the challenging part, and still manage to look good doing it.

NEXT QUESTION →

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.

ATechnology that shouldn’t exist yet and the training to employ it under any conditions.
BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it’s been tested.
CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless.
DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it.
EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up.

NEXT QUESTION →

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.

AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner.
BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet.
CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through.
DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down.
EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked.

NEXT QUESTION →

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 sincere one.

AOne line. Absolutely droughty. Delivered like the world isn’t ending. Then we move.
BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen.
CA plan I don’t fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat.
DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next.
ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that’s who they’ve always been.

REVEAL MY PARTNER →

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 hazardous 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 significant thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely well-informed 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 snail-paced 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 disordered 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 straightforward 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.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

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.

Related

Harlan Coben’s New Netflix Thriller Is Officially His Most Divisive Series in Years

Harlan Coben’s novel 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 straightforward, 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.

Release Date

2026 – 2026-00-00

Network

Netflix

Showrunner

Robert Hull

Directors

Adam Davidson, Maggie Kiley, Maja Vrvilo, Brad Anderson

Writers

Robert Hull, Harlan Coben