Book Adaptation at Its Best in Apple’s ‘The Last Thing He Told Me’

Jessica Brooks

Based on the bestselling novel by Laura Dave, who is also a cocreator, this compelling new limited series follows a woman named Hannah (Jennifer Garner) who must forge a relationship with her recalcitrant teenage stepdaughter (Angourie Rice) while trying to find her husband — played by Game of Thrones alum Nikolaj Coster-Waldau — and attempting to figure out why he has suddenly disappeared. Compelling and nuanced, the show skillfully explores the idea of sacrifice, and the costs people pay for every decision they make in their lives.

“When I write a book, I always start with a question, and my question here was, ‘Can we ever know the people we love?’” Dave told us, about her inspiration for both the show and the book it’s based on. “And my answer was ultimately ‘Yes, we can,’ even if the details might change or someone might evolve over time.”

Dave cocreated the show with her husband, Josh Singer, a screenwriter, which meant she could be very involved with the book-to-screen process. “It was a really, really lovely experience,” she said. “I feel really lucky for two things. One, that I was allowed to be so involved; and two, that it actually ended up getting made. I know how rare that is.”

Like the show, the book, which came out in 2021, asks a lot of questions, both of its characters and its readers. There is a constant battle between love and identity, and how to manage or balance both. Costs are paid for every decision, oftentimes major decisions, made quickly and under pressure. Dave says that “sacrifice” was the word she was thinking of when writing, and this comes through vividly. “Everything in the whole book and the show revolved around that word for me,” Dave adds. “And for the second book, which I’m writing now, the word is salvation.”

Asked whether or not there will be another season, Dave said, “I think it really stands up as a limited series. I’m just thinking about the sequel as a sequel to the book and I’m not thinking about it yet beyond that.”

The Last Thing He Told Me premieres Friday, April 14 on Apple TV+.