By Joshua Tyler
| Published 1 minute ago

Below is what you think South America’s Aztec pyramids look like. 

This is what they actually look like.

What the Aztecs actually built was so shoddy it dissolved in the rain after the Conquistadors showed up. The impressive, long-lasting structures you’ve been attributing to them weren’t built by the Aztecs or any other Native American culture. They predate them by thousands of years, and no one knows for sure who built them. The Aztecs found them in the jungle, moved in, and started using them to perform horrific human sacrifices.

You believe something different because of Hollywood’s persuasive ability. It’s a process that’s been happening since the dawn of film, and it began with the books of Zane Grey. 

Hollywood Was Created By Agreeing To Do Anything For Money

If you know Zane Grey at all, it’s as the author of cheap cowboy books your Dad used to read before bed. But his work wasn’t always viewed that way. In the early 1900s, he was one of the pet authors of America’s elites, who had recently become enamored with a trendy ideology suggesting we had the American Indians wrong.

These ideas had been around since the mid-1800s, but never gained any traction. The elites continued circulating them, though, lapping up books which supported their unpopular view of American Indians as victims.

So Zane Grey wrote a book called The Vanishing American, in which he reframed American Indians as morally superior and European descendants as inferior murderers. The elites loved it. However, no one else did. The average American of the time, perhaps with the recently heard horror stories of their grandparents’ real experiences fighting them in their heads, still thought of Natives as brutal savages who had it coming.

Around that same time, movies were just starting to become a thing. But the movie industry was viewed as low-class, and it was sneered at by those same Zane Grey fanboy elites. 

So, in what would become a pattern for the film industry, in 1923 Hollywood cynically adapted Zane Grey’s The Vanishing American into a movie, specifically to access the investment capital of the American upper class. This strategy worked and was one of the first steps toward legitimizing the film industry. 

Despite being turned into a movie back in the days when there weren’t many movies, The Vanishing American didn’t change the minds of anyone outside that upper crust. While Hollywood had made the movie, it hadn’t made them true believers in its ideology. 

Jimmy Stewart’s Broken Arrow Launders American Indians

Hollywood spent World War II cranking out government-mandated content showcasing Germans as crazed demon worshippers and the Japanese as evil caricatures. When the war was over, the head honchos in Hollywood, who were by then on their way to becoming the new elites, had begun to adopt those early-1900s elitist views.

Yet the war hadn’t changed the minds of average Americans, who returned from fighting Nazis with their belief in the superiority of their own culture not only intact, but fortified by their experience battling repugnant Nazi culture. So in 1950, Hollywood set out to change those average American minds, starting with their favorite and long-time cultural villain: the American Indian.

20th Century Fox hired director Delmer Daves to adapt a book by Elliot Arnold called Broken Arrow, a book that fictionalized the signing of a peace deal between the Apache Chief Cochise and the American government. Daves’s explicitly stated purpose in making the film was to make it Pro-Indian, something which was at the time basically unheard of.

To play Broken Arrow’s native loving crusader, he hired the most sympathetic actor who has ever lived: Jimmy Stuart. To play the chief Cochise, Daves hired a white man. In fact, all the Indian speaking roles are played by white actors in brownface, actors who talk in plain English rather than attempting some semblance of an accent. 

That was Broken Arrow’s chief trick. Daves wanted his caucasian audience to think of Native Americans as being no different from them. This isn’t a guess; the movie explicitly states that as its primary goal. So Broken Arrow painted some Californians brown and called them Indians, while doing little to make them seem like Native Americans.

This is Familiarity Laundering.

Familiarity Laundering is the process of making a person, group, idea, or culture seem safer and more acceptable by stripping away the traits that make it feel foreign, difficult, alien, or threatening. It’s like changing the cover of a book and pretending that has somehow also changed its contents.

The native characters’ costuming is minimal. Feathers are nowhere to be seen, and most of the natives Jimmy Stuart encounters look more like day laborers hanging out in a Home Depot parking lot than they do fierce Apache warriors. 

Of course, the real Apaches didn’t speak English and didn’t act like Europeans at all, but in this movie they do, and Broken Arrow papers over that factual inaccuracy at the outset with an announcement claiming everything you’re about to watch is totally factual and truly how it happened.

It’s a clumsy and obvious attempt at audience manipulation, but it worked. After decades of trying, public opinion started to shift. The myth of the noble savage began to grow among the media class.

Kevin Costner Pushes Jimmy Stewart’s Message Across The Finish Line

Average Americans continued to resist. Schools still taught the Plains Indians as savages and their Mesoamerican counterparts as doubly so, while the Conquistadors were still taught as heroes.

So the now fully convinced media doubled down on the noble savage myth, with crying Indians and rock songs about how cool they were. They had limited success, but it wasn’t until 1990 that it finally, fully took hold and became the common view. It was Kevin Costner who made it happen.

1990 was the year Dances With Wolves arrived in theaters, made half a billion dollars at the box office, and cleaned up at the Oscars. In it, Costner plays Union soldier John Dunbar. He becomes a war hero by accident and uses his reward to escape to a remote frontier post. 

He finds his post abandoned, but stays anyway. Alone with his horse and a curious wolf, Dunbar slowly comes into contact with a nearby Lakota Sioux tribe.

What begins as fear turns into trust, helped by Stands With A Fist, a white woman raised by the tribe. Her entire family was slaughtered by the Lakotas she lives with, but the film glosses over that by only showing it in a flashback with slow motion and careful cutaways, so the audience never sees any of the true brutality. 

Stands With A Fist is played by Battlestar Galactica’s Mary McDonnell, and she’s a key component. Until this movie, most people believed women taken by natives were kept as slaves or worse. But Dances With Wolves uses her to “prove” the Lakota are kind and caring. She loves her life there; is treated like an equal, and doesn’t want to leave.

Costner’s Dunbar learns their language, joins their hunts, fights beside them, and begins to understand that the “savages” he was taught to fear are not the threat. The audience is made to believe that real danger on the frontier isn’t the natives; it’s the army coming west behind Dunbar.

This is an Identification Reversal

Identification Reversals are something we’ve talked about a lot on Screenwashed. If you want to see how it’s used in other movies, check the link! It’s a psychological technique in which an audience is initially encouraged to identify with one character, viewpoint, or emotional response, only for that identification to gradually shift to an opposing or contrasting figure as the story progresses. 

Soon Dunbar, as the audience representative, turns traitor and joins the Lakota in fighting his own people. The film justifies this by portraying American civilization as collapsing and corrupt. Every part of it Dunbar encounters is a mess. 

American medicine is quackery; American forms of government are frauds; American frontier living is so terrible that people are literally committing suicide to escape it. It’s so cartoonish and ridiculous that your brain never questions it. You accept it as, ok, this is what history must have really been, because obviously no one would invent something this silly.

This is an Absurdity Bypass.

An Absurdity Bypass is a persuasion trick where an idea is made so extreme, exaggerated, or openly ridiculous that the audience stops applying ordinary skepticism and accepts it as part of the premise.

It’s an intellectual clown show, but Dances with Wolves looks and feels beautiful. It was all anyone could talk about that year. The world fell in love, and whatever remaining anti-Indian sentiment was left after decades of screenwashing totally evaporated. 

Now Americans were clearly the evil ones, and Native Americans were a great and proud civilization which had somehow been conquered by a totally inferior one. None of that makes any sense, but that’s how it felt to audiences walking out of Dances With Wolves. That feeling has only intensified, pushed by further and continuous screenwashing being used on the public ever since. 

Dances With Wolves finished the job Broken Arrow started, by fully flipping popular sympathy toward Native Americans and transferring the stereotype of violent savage Indians over to the soldiers who’d previously been portrayed as defenders of civilization. 

That stereotype reversal was then transferred to all native cultures. Suddenly Aboriginal bushmen became noble, and the Aztecs invented an advanced civilization with a polite and peaceful culture that definitely didn’t ritually murder millions of children. Even those cannibalistic tribesmen in Papua New Guinea probably weren’t actually so bad. Sure, they may have eaten Michael Rockefeller back in 61, but have you seen a picture of him? That guy looked delicious. 

For you see, my fellow Americans, you were the bad guy all along. Enjoy your fake Aztec pyramids, everyone; you’ve been screenwashed.

Toronto Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello has been suspended by the WNBA for one game after making an “inappropriate comment” about Atlanta Dream star Angel Reese. 

Brondello, 57, was overheard calling Reese, 24, a “protected species” during the Tempo’s game against the Dream on Friday, July 17. 

While issuing an apology on Sunday, July 19, Brondello, who is Australian, attempted to explain that the phrase is frequently used in Australian sports circles and she did not intend to be racist. 

“Have a ton of respect for her, but I wanted to make sure that [she knows] it was an emotional statement,” Brondello told reporters. “It’s a statement that’s very common in Australia, it wasn’t directed at Angel. I’d never do that to any kind of player. That’s not the kind of coach I am or player back in my day. It was just unfortunate. I was pretty emotional with [Tempo player] Nyara [Sybally], her being injured again. I made a comment that, Australians, we say all the time.”

She continued, “Unfortunately, I should have took a breath and realized where I am in America because I know racism is such a big issue here. I’ve been in this league for 27 years and, obviously, I never had any issues like this because these are all my teammates and I’ve learnt so much from the Black players that I’ve coached and that I’ve had on staff.”

Related: Angel Reese Trolled by Pistons Fans After Boyfriend‘s Team Knocked Out by Ex

After goading fans of the Detroit Pistons throughout the team’s first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic, Angel Reese got a taste of her own medicine after the Pistons’ Game 7 victory.  Pistons fans chanted Reese’s name while the WNBA star’s boyfriend, Wendell Carter Jr., was at the free throw line during the fourth quarter […]

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Brondello will serve her suspension on Monday, July 20, when the Tempo host the Las Vegas Aces. 

“I know I’m not racist, so it’s a really unfortunate situation,” Brondello insisted. “So, I wanted to apologize whenever Angel is ready. I have reached out to their organization. Very sincere because I never want that to happen to anyone. It’s so much in this WNBA and I felt mad at myself because I’m a part of the solution, not the problem.”

She added, “Hopefully I can have that chat and she gets to know me and my heart. I think everyone else that I’ve coached in this league, they know that and what I’m about. I’ll try to be better as I move forward. I did make a mistake and I’ll try and keep my Australianisms, I suppose, out. But it was never meant to be personal. So, I am truly sorry and, you know, hopefully she’s doing OK.”

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Related: School Dispels Rumors After College Softball Player Found Dead at 19

Livingstone College has addressed speculation after Gabrielle Muñoz, a softball player at the school, died on July 9. She was 19. “As we continue to honor Gabriella’s life, we are aware of inaccurate reports circulating online regarding the circumstances of her passing,” the school, located in North Carolina, posted via Facebook on Sunday, July 12. […]

Reese addressed the situation before the Dream’s victory over the Chicago Sky on Sunday. 

“First, I appreciate Sandy’s apology, but I also appreciate the love and support that I’ve had for the last 48 hours,” Reese said. “It has been very overwhelming with a lot of love and also other things. But I am grateful that the league did take action.”

She continued, “There is no place for discrimination or hate in this league from anyone — from fans to coaches to players. And I’m just grateful that we are able to move on from the situation and just play winning basketball. The WNBA is supposed to be positive and we are going in a great light right now, so I just want to continue that and move forward.”

Milly Alcock’s Supergirl, Disney’s latest live-action remake, Moana, and Minions & Monsters might’ve all struggled at the box office in recent weeks, perhaps released too close to the dominant Toy Story 5. But this past weekend’s biggest arrival certainly hasn’t struggled. Christopher Nolan‘s latest epic, The Odyssey, hopes to follow in the footsteps of his 2023 biographical thriller Oppenheimer, which exceeded expectations at the box office by grossing nearly $1 billion worldwide. With an impressive start to theatrical life, there’s nothing to suggest The Odyssey can’t hit those impressive heights. With many having now watched the historical epic, what should they be watching now? Here’s a list of three movies you should stream on Netflix this week.

For more recommendations, check out our list of the best shows and movies on Netflix.

Disclaimer: These titles are available on US Netflix.

1

‘Heartstopper Forever’ (2026)

Rotten Tomatoes: 93% | IMDb: 7.4/10

The freshest movie on Netflix is also one of the most poignant, as its acclaimed teen series comes to an end in feature form. Alice Oseman‘s young-adult series Heartstopper has been unstoppable during its run on the streamer, breaking boundaries and melting hearts in the process.

Late last week, Heartstopper Forever delivered a two-hour final installment in the young love story between Nick (Kit Connor) and Charlie (Joe Locke), with the former on the cusp of university and the reality of adult life beginning to dawn. Other fan-favorite faces, including William Gao, Yasmin Finney, Corinna Brown, and more, also feature in this heartwarming, joyous option for your week.

2

‘Bugonia’ (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes: 87% | IMDb: 7.4/10

The remarkable Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos have paired up on several acclaimed projects, and in 2025, they made their most accessible yet. A remake of Jang Joon-hwan‘s 2003 South Korean comedy Save the Green Planet!, Bugonia follows Stone’s high-powered CEO Michelle, whose life is changed after being kidnapped by Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis), who suspect her of being from another planet.

A fascinating, thought-provoking tale that is as absurd as it is grounded, Bugonia is one of the most underrated movies of the past year. Each of Stone, Plemons, and Delbis is electric throughout, with Stone earning yet another Academy Award nomination in the process. From its pulse-racing opening to a mind-blowing finale, Bugonia will keep you on the edge of your seat.

3

‘American Graffiti’ (1973)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% | IMDb: 7.4/10

Just four years before George Lucas changed sci-fi forever with the first of the Star Wars franchise, he nailed the coming-of-age genre with one of its finest earlier examples. American Graffiti, set against the gorgeous backdrop of California’s central valley in the ’60s, follows a group of teenagers on the edge of adulthood as they spend one final chaotic night together.

The cast for American Graffiti is stacked, including the likes of Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Harrison Ford, and more. Add to this a brilliant screenplay, some gorgeous cinematography, and the inclusion of Francis Ford Coppola as executive producer, and a recipe for genius is born. This is a movie everyone should watch once.

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Release Date

August 1, 1973

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Runtime

110minutes

Director

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George Lucas

Writers

George Lucas, Gloria Katz, Willard Huyck

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A new video of Chrisean Rock and Blueface is making its rounds online. It shows Blue seemingly firing off flirty comments at his ex-girlfriend while she confronts him over publicly disowning her son, Chrisean Jesus. Now, social media users are split as they debate Rock and Blue’s comments and body language in the viral video.

RELATED: Blueface & Nevaeh Akira’s Maternity Photoshoot Has Social Media Mentioning Jaidyn Alexis (PHOTOS)

Chrisean Rock Questions Blueface About Her Son

Streaming has been at an all-time high, especially with Kai Cenat’s exclusive Streamer University underway. That said, over the weekend, Chrisean Rock and Blueface appeared in a stream together. They appeared to be on a yacht.

In one video, Chrisean speaks directly to her ex, asking, “What’s all that, that’s not your baby?” He shoots back, “What’s all that G-A-Y?” Rather than answer his question, Rock doubled down. She asked, “What all that, that’s not your son? Oh, aight. Yeah, kill it. You know what you be doing.” After slightly turning away, Blue attempted to change the topic, saying, “You look good, though. I like your lil’ outfit.” After she seemingly brushed off his comment, he then pointed out her “lil’ Blueface tattoo,” calling it popping. After saying that tatt isn’t on her face, Rock told Blueface, “Why you clip-farming?” But he doubled down on his compliments. “You look good, I said you look good. Little ponytail and sh*t,” Blueface said. He later attempted to get her to do a 360-turn for him, which she refused.

Chrisean went to CONFRONT Blueface about not claiming their child, but FOLDED once he started FLIRTING with her 💀

“You look good”

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“Lemme get a 360” pic.twitter.com/6uVtbvpJuM

— ClipCloud (@clipcloud) July 20, 2026

In another clip posted by LiveBitez, Chrisean Rock said her beef with Blueface isn’t over until he starts claiming his son and until they spar and she “whoops” him. “All that stuff he be doing, we could pray a million times, with no action…,” Chrisean said.

Another circulating video shows Rock popping off on Blue after he asks her to make him a plate of food. She again accuses him of “clip-farming” her. “Why you say make a plate, like I’m one of these 304s bro…that’s all you deal with.” Later, she again brought up them catching a fade. 

Things got HEATED between Chrisean Rock and Blueface after he tried to be manipulative and make her run an ERRAND during their reunion. 😳

“Make you a plate? Why are you trolling? Like I’m one of your 304s, ‘cause that’s all you deal with.” pic.twitter.com/PdPQkT9qxE

— Tante 🎬 (@tantehenia) July 20, 2026

What’s The Context Behind Blue & Rock’s Comments?

On X, formerly Twitter, the stream clips of Chrisean Rock and Blueface are taking over the timeline. Nearly 3,000 posts involving the ex-couple have been made on the platform in 14 hours. Over on Instagram, the comment sections are also popping off!

However, for those not keeping up with the Chrisean Rock-Blueface story, here’s the context. In March, Blueface hopped online, denied he’s the father of Chrisean Jesus and suggested the child’s dad is her late ex-boyfriend Ronny Doe. She later called him out for the denial, adding that Blueface was trying to provoke her amid her falling back from being around him. As for Blue’s “G-A-Y” reference in the yacht stream, it appears to stem from a 2023 rant from Chrisean in which she reportedly accused him of being bisexual.

Here’s One Baby Blueface Isn’t Denying

While Chrisean Rock is asking Blueface to stop disowning Chrisean Jesus, he’s openly embracing another child. He’s expecting his first child with his on-and-off-again boo, Nevaeh Akira. They’re expecting a son they’ve already named Solar Porter. Over the weekend, fans got a glimpse of the couple’s maternity shoot. Blueface was seen cheesing as he, Nevaeh and her young son posed in cowboy attire near a horse. In some photos, he’s cradling her baby bump.

Meanwhile, Jaidyn, the mother of Blueface’s eldest children, seems to have moved on from him as she recently hard-launched a new bae.

RELATED: Whew! Jaidyn Alexis Seemingly Hard Launches New Boo As Blueface Gets Dragged Into The Conversation (VIDEO + PHOTOS)

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 25 seconds ago

Prior to Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster The Odyssey, Hollywood had never attempted a feature film adaptation of Homer’s classic epic poem. There’s been countless television episodes that have adapted it, including Ducktales and Wishbone, while the Coen Brothers O Brother, Where Art Thou is a retelling of the story. Until Nolan, the closest Hollywood came was the 1997 NBC miniseries developed by Hallmark and starring Armand Assante as Odysseus. For a generation, this was the defining adaptation of The Odyssey. 

A Generation Defining Television Event

The 1997 series, like Nolan’s version, cuts out parts of Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca. Notably, the sirens are left on the cutting room floor, Helio’s cattle are left out, there’s no cannibals, and the Lotus-Eaters are combined with Circe’s island. Even with a runtime approaching four hours, something had to give. What remains behind, is the pinnacle of 90s made-for-tv movies and a staple of classrooms every time the teacher wheels in the AV cart. 

It starts with Odysseus fighting in the Trojan War, taunting the cyclops with “Nobody,” spending five years with Circe (Bernadette Peters), trekking to the underworld to counsel with the sage Tiresias (Christopher Lee), losing his entire crew to Scylla and Charybdis, washing up on the shore of Calypso’s (Vanessa Williams) island prison, spending two years with her before finally making it home. There you go. That’s The Odyssey. It’s the foundational myth for all Western literature. And even on a TV budget, it’s incredible.

A Visual Spectacular On A Television Budget

Armand Assante was derided by critics for his performance of Odysseus as being “stiff,” but watching it now, and instead he’s chewing up every bit of scenery and picking his teeth with it. That didn’t stop the series from becoming a cultural event with nearly 40 million viewers across both nights. The Odyssey was such a huge success, it kicked off a new era of television miniseries events that included Merlin, Dinotopia, and Jason and the Argonauts.

The Odyssey set a new bar for television during a time when it was considered to be “inferior” to feature films. The look of the boat scenes, the cyclops, and the sacking of Troy are among the greatest television visuals of the decade. It pales in comparison to Nolan’s vision of ancient Greece in IMAX, but even today, 30 years later, there’s gorgeous shots a whole new generation can appreciate. 

The Odyssey Is Impossible To Fully Adapt

Adapting the epic poem has always been a challenge due to the sheer size, scope, and frankly, weirdness, of the story. Odysseus wanders around the ocean, meets different mythological beings, all of whom could by themselves anchor a film, and then he goes home to kill every single of his wife’s suitors. When even Nolan has to cut material out, you know there’s too much there for any one film to contain. 

1997’s The Odyssey was a risky gamble. It came out before Gladiator briefly revived the swords and sandal epics, and in the 90s, culture had shifted to grounded, reality-based stories or “extreme” reinterpretations. A straight, mythological adventure should not have been a hit. Yet it was. 

Today you can stream 1997’s The Odyssey for free on YouTube, Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, and The Roku Channel.

Sydney Sweeney and Scooter Braun looked as in love as ever in new photos from a trip to Australia.

“A little aussie dump,” Sweeney, 28, captioned an Instagram post on Sunday, July 19, that included highlights from the getaway. The compilation included a glimpse of her romance with Braun, 45, who joined her in several photos.

In one shot, the couple posed while standing next to a helicopter and while out at dinner. Braun was also seen planting a kiss on Sweeney’s cheek, while another photo showed the pair recreating the iconic Titanic pose on a boat.

The final photo in the post caught Sweeney mid-air while trying to balance on Braun’s leg and shoulder. Elsewhere in the social media upload, Sweeney showed herself playing bumper cars, card games and spending time with Javon “Wanna” Walton and Noah Centineo. Another picture showed off Sweeney’s cleavage in a gingham bikini.

Related: Sydney Sweeney and Scooter Braun’s Complete Relationship Timeline

Sydney Sweeney sparked romance rumors with Scooter Braun three months after her split from Jonathan Davino — and the new couple are still going strong. Sweeney was spotted walking around Italy with Braun in June 2025, prior to Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding, but it wasn’t until that September that the pair stepped out […]

Sweeney and Braun have enjoyed offering glimpses into their life together since taking their relationship public. They originally sparked romance rumors in June 2025 after they were spotted together in Italy ahead of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding.

“Sydney has been having a lot of fun with Scooter,” a source exclusively told Us later that year. “It has been low-pressure for both of them and has been a different relationship for Sydney. Scooter has introduced her to new perspectives, especially when it comes to business.”

Another insider referred to Sweeney and Braun as “the real deal” in April after the couple attended the Euphoria premiere together. The actress walked the red carpet solo at the event, but the twosome were later caught kissing and holding hands.

“Their relationship has become very serious,” the insider shared at the time, noting that “people around them thought that this would be just a fling, but they are committed.”

Before finding love with Braun, Sweeney was engaged to ex-fiancé Jonathan Davino from 2018 to 2025.

Related: ‘Euphoria‘ Cast‘s Dating Histories Through the Years

Once Euphoria debuted in 2019, fans of the teen drama have continued to keep an eye on the main cast — especially when it comes to their love lives. Sex, love, drugs and friendship are front and center on the HBO series, but the show’s stars tend to lead more private lives. Zendaya, for example, […]

“I was in a relationship for a very long time, for seven and a half years, and I never talked about it. I was very private. No one would ever see us,” she told Cosmopolitan earlier this year. “I think it’s important to have some things for myself. I understand that I’m a public person, but I’m still in my 20s. I’m still figuring out love, and it’s hard to do that with millions of people who have their own opinions of what that looks like.”

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She continued: “At the same time, for all of my 20s, I put my head down and focused on work — and now I want to experience things. But it’s hard deciding that I want to experience love in the public eye. I’m just navigating it all.”

When asked to describe her ideal partner, Sweeney replied, “Athletic and outgoing and funny. … Look, I am a boss in my life. I take control. I go after what I want. I am confident, and I am successful, and I don’t actually need a man. I’ve got myself. I’ve got an incredible group of girlfriends. I’ve got a team of badass women. That is very intimidating to a lot of guys, so a guy needs to be able to stand in that with me. It takes a very specific person who can handle the world that comes with me. There was a guy who I really, really liked, but he told me he can’t handle my world. It’s a hard thing.”

Braun, for his part, was married to health activist Yael Cohen from 2014 until their 2021 split. The former couple, who share three children, finalized their divorce in September 2022.

I Will Find You was one of those gems that popped up on your Netflix recommended list, piqued interest given its incredible cast, and exploded from there. The crime drama miniseries is about David (Sam Worthington), a man convicted for the murder of his son. But when his sister-in-law Rachel (Britt Lower) finds evidence that she believes confirms that the boy is still alive and thus proves David’s innocence, the two team up to investigate.

It’s a wild and twisted ride through the eight-episode series that will hit you with moments you won’t see coming and some that leave you scratching your head and rolling your eyes. But the performances are great, bringing yet another Harlan Coben story to life. While his many other shows are obvious next watches, there are other shows in the same vein that you might like, too.

‘The Stranger’ (2020)

Image via Netflix

Another from Coben, there’s something intriguing about The Stranger, the story of people who are approached by a mysterious young woman wearing a baseball cap (Hannah John-Kamen) who reveals secrets to them that upend their entire worlds. When Adam Price (Richard Armitage) comes face-to-face with her, and his wife Corrine (Dervla Kirwan) goes missing as a result, Adam is desperate to figure out how it all connects, and who this woman is.

The Stranger is one of Coben’s more highly rated shows, bringing to life a story that was addictive on the pages of his book in a way that makes it equally interesting on screen. The story itself is very different from I Will Find You, but it has Coben’s signature style to the narrative that you’ll enjoy.

‘Safe’ (2018)

Image via Netflix

Another show based on Coben’s book, Safe‘s premise is a lot closer to I Will Find You. Tom (Michael C. Hall) is a pediatric surgeon and widowed father trying to navigate raising two teenage daughters on his own. When one suddenly goes missing, however, Tom must go on the hunt to find her. In the process, he uncovers a web of lies and secrets that shake him to his core.

The same frantic energy you feel in I Will Find You is felt in Safe. Interestingly, while the characters in I Will Find You believe that Matthew (Ashton Cressman) is alive, and they are desperate to find a boy they know is at least safe, Tom is riddled with worry because he doesn’t know if his daughter is okay. Both shows highlight the love a parent has for their child, and the lengths they would go to protect them.

‘His & Hers’ (2026)

Image via Netflix

As the saying goes, there are three sides to every story: yours, mine, and the truth. His & Hers is as much about misinterpretation and miscommunication between an estranged married couple, fueled by their grief, as it is about the mysterious murder of a young woman in their small town. Both shows follow an investigation and people who are both involved in ways that make you question their innocence.

The show is emotional and enthralling, with just as big an unpredictable twist at the end as the one in I Will Find You. If you loved that element of the Coben show, His & Hers, adapted from the Alice Feeney novel, delivers as well. It has the same soapy feel, yet it’s also dark and twisted. It’s a perfect guilty pleasure watch and with just six episodes, you can binge it in a night or two.

‘Defending Jacob’ (2020)

Image via Apple TV

A murder mystery legal drama, Defending Jacob has a similar theme of a couple and their son dealing with a horrifying situation. In this case, 14-year-old Jacob (Jaeden Martell) is accused of murder, and his father Andy (Chris Evans) and mother Laurie (Michelle Dockery) are gutted at the news and desperate to protect their son. But they also can’t help but wonder if Jacob might actually be guilty given the mounting evidence, despite trying hard to push away any of these dark thoughts.

Defending Jacob is one of those Apple TV shows that flew under the radar, despite the huge cast that also includes Cherry Jones, Pablo Schreiber, and J. K. Simmons. Fans weren’t happy with the way the show ended and its slow pacing through the eight episodes. Nonetheless, you get a similar sense of desperation to prove someone’s innocence.

‘Presumed Innocent’ (2024–Present)

Image via Apple TV

A new adaptation of the Scott Turow novel, as was the 1990 film, Presumed Innocent has the same idea of a man who has mounting evidence against him that seems to prove his guilt for murder. But Rusty (Jake Gyllenhaal) swears he is innocent. Things are complicated, however, because he does admit to having an affair with the victim, Carolyn (Renate Reinsve), who also happens to have been his colleague.

The story extends to Rusty’s family as well, including his wife and two teenage kids. They get caught up in the drama surrounding their dad. Rusty is fighting not only to prove his innocence, but also against a rival prosecutor who appears more interested in convicting Rusty than actually proving he’s guilty. Rusty’s story is similar to David’s in I Will Find You, and the end reveal will have you just as shook.

‘All Her Fault’ (2025)

All Her Fault tugs at your heartstrings and rips your heart out right from the start. The story centers around working mom Marissa (Sarah Snook) who arrives to pick up her son at a playdate only to learn that the mother who she arranged the date with via text doesn’t actually live at that house. Her son isn’t there either. The panic that sets in emanates through the screen and continues on through the entire show.

All Her Fault focuses on fractured family dynamics and the blame game, Marissa at times feels as though she is being painted as a villain just as David was in I Will Find You. The mystery thriller that is perfect from start to finish is darker and more ominous than I Will Find You, and the story takes similarly unpredictable turns. While no one is actually convicted as they search for Milo (Duke McCloud), All Her Fault highlights the concept of guilt and judgment in the court of public opinion, and the one-sided nature of how this often falls on the mother.

‘The Beast in Me’ (2025)

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When struggling author Aggie (Claire Danes) meets new neighbor Nile (Matthew Rhys) in The Beast in Me, she recognizes him as the billionaire who was accused of killing his wife years prior. She isn’t sure if he was wrongfully accused or just used his money, power, and influence to get off on the charges. While you may watch I Will Find You and think David can’t possibly be guilty, you’ll likely watch The Beast in Me and think there’s no way Nile is not.

The psychological crime thriller is darker than I Will Find You, a much more refined show if you want something that’s a level up. The acting is superb, and while the story has some weak spots, it ramps up by the final episodes to keep you at the edge of your seat to find out what happened next. The show does have a twist or two of its own, but it relies mainly on the compelling narrative, and you’ll enjoy it as your next watch.

‘The Undoing’ (2020)

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Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant are brilliant in The Undoing. The story begins with the death of a beautiful young woman, with respected oncologist Jonathan (Grant) eventually accused of her murder. What does he have to do with this woman, Elena (Matilda De Angelis)? This is what Grace (Kidman), a successful psychologist, sets out to determine.

It’s another show about someone outside of law enforcement running their own investigation to either prove someone’s innocence or guilt. A son is at the center of this story, too, as the couple’s teenage boy, Henry (Noah Jupe), is stuck in the middle of this impossible situation. With just six episodes, The Undoing is another step-up show if you want something that hits a bit harder.

‘The Night Of’ (2016)

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One of the best crime drama miniseries of late, The Night Of focuses on another wrongfully convicted man who is sent to prison because the situation seems impossible to be explained any other way. When David is the one who finds his son in I Will Find You, his history of night terrors and a bloody bat found buried in the backyard make it seem like there’s no other viable explanation but that he’s guilty. The same happens to Naz (Riz Ahmed) in this series when he wakes up next to the random woman he met the night before, and she has been murdered.

The Night Of shows the descent of a promising young man when society and the justice system turn against him. David seemed to harden from his time in jail, but he didn’t lose himself. Naz, on the other hand, becomes a shell of his former self, and the journey to get there is heart-wrenching. It’s a much more emotional, deeper story if you’re interested in delving outside of soapy territory.