The Last Thing He Told Me: Release Date, Cast, And More For Jennifer Garner's New Series Based On The Bestselling Book
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The small screen adaptation of author Laura Dave's celebrated, best-selling novel "The Last Thing He Told Me" — starring Jennifer Garner and Angourie Rice — is almost here!
The Apple TV+ series is officially described as the story of "Hannah (played by Garner), a woman who must forge a relationship with her 16-year-old stepdaughter Bailey (played by Rice) in order to find the truth about why her husband has mysteriously disappeared." The streamer has shared a couple of first-look images for the series (including the one seen above) in order to tide fans over ahead of its premiere. Dave's original, fast-moving, heartfelt thriller novel has been much talked about since its release in 2021, where it quickly ascended to the top of the New York Times' Bestsellers and stayed on the list for over a year, selling more than 2 million copies in the U.S. alone.
Here's everything we know about the TV show so far.
What is The Last Thing He Told Me about?
"The Last Thing He Told Me" has already picked up several major awards over the course of its best-selling run, including the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Thriller/Suspense novel of 2021. The story follows Hannah, a woman who must forge a connection with Bailey, her 16-year-old stepdaughter, after her husband Owen disappears mysteriously following an embezzlement investigation. He only leaves his wife a single note that reads: "Protect Her." Hannah and Bailey work together to discover the truth about their loved one's past while evading the suspicions of law enforcers ... but everything is not as it may seem.
The TV series version of "The Last Thing He Told Me" was created by Laura Dave, along with her husband, the Oscar-winning screenwriter Josh Singer ("First Man," "Spotlight," "The Post"). "I was consumed with the Enron trial, the hubris behind the people that allowed that to happen," Dave told Variety in 2021, explaining that the idea for the novel first came to her in 2003:
"I saw an interview back then with Linda Lay, the wife of Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, in which she said, 'My husband's done nothing wrong. He's not guilty.' I had no idea if she believed that or not. I started thinking of a woman who found herself newly married to someone that the world is telling her is so paradoxical to her understanding of who her partner is."
The cast and crew of The Last Thing He Told Me
"The Last Thing He Told Me" was initially set to star Julia Roberts in the role of Hannah, but the actor has since been replaced by Jennifer Garner. Angourie Rice ("The Nice Guys") is co-starring as Bailey, with "Game of Thrones" alum Nikolaj Coster-Waldau playing Hannah's husband Owen, Aisha Tyler ("Criminal Minds") playing Jules, and Geoff Stults ("Enlisted") co-starring as Jake. There's also John Harlan Kim ("The Librarians"), who portrays Bobby, and Augusto Aguilera ("The Predator"), who's playing Grady.
Laura Dave and Josh Singer are serving as both the show's co-creators and executive producers, with Garner also on board as an executive producer. Reese Witherspoon's media company Hello Sunshine (which optioned the book from Dave) and 20th Television are producing. Olivia Newman, who is known for her work on "Where the Crawdads Sing," directed multiple episodes (including the show's pilot), with the additional episodes directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven, Daisy Von Scherler Mayer, and Lila Neugebauer ("Causeway").
The Last Thing He Told Me release date and where to watch it
While "The Last Thing He Told Me" doesn't have a trailer yet, its first-look stills offer a sneak peek at Jennifer Garner and Angourie Rice as the mother-daughter duo at the heart of the series. The show's first two of seven episodes will debut on April 14, 2023, on Apple TV+, with the rest premiering every Friday until its finale on May 19, 2023.
"I devoured the book," Garner told Vanity Fair, adding that she read it out loud to one of her kids. "We were so compelled to keep reading and bedtime was just flying out the window every single night because it was just one more chapter, one more chapter, one more chapter." Later in the same interview, Garner stated that her goal with the streaming series adaptation is to recreate that experience for viewers:
"As Laura Dave's number one fan, I just want people who love the book to feel satisfied with what I've done — what we've done — and to feel compelled to keep watching in the same way that I was driven to read. Chapter, after chapter, after chapter."