Jennifer Garner Is Back on TV This Spring in Family Mystery Thriller

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Laura Dave's The Last Thing He Told Me was one of the most popular books of 2021. The novel spent 44 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, so it only makes sense that Reese Witherspoon picked up the rights to adapt the book for television.

"I devoured the book," Jennifer Garner tells Vanity Fair, explaining that she read it out loud with 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."

She adds, "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.”"

Here's everything we know about The Last Thing He Told Me adaptation.

The show will follow the plot of the novel.

The story begins with the disappearance of Owen Michaels, who leaves behind a cryptic note for his wife, Hannah, that simply says "protect her." Hannah knows he's talking about his 16-year-old daughter, Bailey, who lost her mother as a child and who hates Hannah.

Here's the rest of the plot summary: "As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared. Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated."

Jennifer Garner and Angourie Rice lead the cast.

Garner will play Hannah Hall, and Rice will be her 16-year-old stepddaughter Bailey. Rice previously starred in Mare of Easttown and the Spider-Man Marvel movies. Author Laura Dave wrote on Instagram she's "over the moon" at casting of the duo.

Garner "could not be more excited" to star in The Last Thing He Told Me on Apple TV. After news of her casting was announced, the actress took to Instagram to write "I could not be more excited! I absolutely could not be more grateful!" with a crying emoji, a heart face emoji, and a red heart. She added, "Thank you, @ReeseWitherspoon. I love you, lady."

She's already getting into character, which she calls her "dream role," and is taking woodwork classes—because Hannah is a woodworker.

Garner is now better known as a film actress, starring in recent movies like The Adam Project and Yes Day, but she got her start in television, on the popular spy thriller Alias.

In January 2023, Apple TV+ released a first look at Garner and Rice in the show:

And in March 2023, they released a first trailer:

The show premieres April 14, 2023.

The first two episodes of The Last Thing He Told Me will premiere on April 14, and the next five episodes will drop weekly on Fridays.

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