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Milo Ventimiglia explains the genius reason he was cast in I Will Find You, and we overlooked it

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Kieran Galpin
26th June 2026, 15:09
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Though all of the acting in Netflix’s I Will Find You was stellar, there’s no doubting that Milo Ventimiglia was the shining star.

Introduced early as the ex-boyfriend of journalist Rachel, Milo Ventimiglia’s Hayden Payne was captivating from the first moment – if only because he’s stupidly hot.

Throughout the rest of the Netflix show, he cemented himself as the shining white knight, which is why *that* final twist took us all by surprise. Hayden was behind everything, from faking Matthew’s death and kidnapping him to setting up David as the killer. Milo Ventimiglia’s personality switched at this point, taking Hayden from the boy next door to Ryan Guzman in The Boy Next Door. You know, the one where he’s hot but also a massive psycho.

Lots of people have been talking about Milo Ventimiglia’s performance, comparing it to his earlier roles.

Credit: Netflix
Credit: Netflix

Milo Ventimiglia’s acting credits are many

Milo Ventimiglia has one of those faces where you can’t quite place where you know him from. Over the years, he’s played major parts in shows like Gilmore Girls, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Heroes, Gotham, and This Is Us. His film credits are just as impressive, lending his talents to Rocky Balboa, Creed II, and Grown Ups 2.

After years of acting, Milo has cultivated a certain image. He usually plays the attractive, wholesome type, which is actually why he was cast in I Will Find You.

“It was a bit of trickery that I think we were playing off of, which is, people see the last character I played, and they’re not going to know that this one’s coming,” he told PEOPLE.

Showrunner Robert Hull echoed those statements in another interview with PEOPLE, admitting that the team banked on the public perception of Milo.

“We want people to bring the This Is Us baggage,” he said. “We want people to be like, ‘Oh, that’s Milo. He’s always a good guy.’ It makes everything even more impactful in the end.”

Sam Worthington, who played David, shared similar thoughts, saying it was fun to see Milo try on his villain shoes.

He said: “It’s an interesting choice putting someone like Milo in that kind of role because you very quickly form a bond with him.”

“He’s a very open, generous, professional actor. I don’t think he’s ever gotten that chance to go on that other side of himself before. So it’s interesting when he pushed those dynamics, it was interesting to kind of see where he was taking that character.

“You just see it’s the guy from Gilmore Girls and that’s the good misdirecting in a good way.”

Good guys always make the best villains.

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Featured image credit: Netflix