WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for The Last Thing He Told Me!
The Last Thing He Told Me is based on a fictional novel written by Laura Dave, but some elements in its mystery drama seem too realistic, suggesting that it may have some real-world inspirations. Starring Jennifer Garner and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, The Last Thing He Told Me follows a woman's search for the truth behind her husband's sudden disappearance, who leaves her a note saying that she must protect her stepdaughter. While primarily revolving around Hannah's hunt to find her missing husband's whereabouts, The Last Thing He Told Me gradually unfolds the tapestry around Hannah's relationship with her husband and the potential reasons for his departure.
In the first two episodes, the Apple TV show hints that Hannah's husband, Owen, was likely involved in a fraud orchestrated by the tech company he worked for and is on the run to avoid federal investigation. However, even though it seems to be the most logical reason for Owen's disappearance, Hannah cannot help but suspect that there is more to the mystery than meets the eye. Although The Last Thing He Told Me never explicitly mentions that the fraud makes any true-story references, it is based on a real-life corporate scandal.
The Last Thing He Told Me's Real-Life Inspirations Explained
As confirmed by The Last Thing He Told Me's author (via EW), the inception of the idea for her novel first came to her from the Enron financial scandal in which Enron Corp, a high-value energy-trading and utility company, used accounting malpractices to perpetrate a large-scale fraud. While watching an interview involving Enron's CEO's wife, who claimed that her husband did nothing wrong, the author, Laura Dave, wondered, "What if someone really believed that who their husband was, was in direct opposition to what the world was trying to tell them." With this idea as a foundation, she started working on what later became a full-fledged novel titled The Last Thing He Told Me.
Although the author's story only uses the husband's ties with the financial fraud as a narrative device, it took her years of research to ensure that the criminal investigation in her book was not too far from the real world. In another interview (via Harbor Light), Dave explained how even Hannah's journey as a mother draws its inspiration from real mothers who do not take a conventional path toward motherhood. By portraying the "beauty in all the ways that love arrives into our lives," she wanted to capture how every version of motherhood is equally "honorable, important, natural."
How The Last Thing He Told Me's True Story References Make It Better
While Laura Dave's depiction of realistic mother-daughter relationships makes The Last Thing He Told Me's storyline more relatable and poignant, her inspirations from the Enron fraud add a layer of authenticity to the series. This authenticity, in turn, allows viewers to step into Hannah and her daughter's shoes and understand the sense of tension and urgency they face while tracking down Owen. Since The Last Thing He Told Me does not primarily focus on the fraud and only uses it to tell an emotionally resonant fictional tale of complex familial bonds, the true-story references also emphasize how the show brings a refreshing perspective on the human stories that potentially unfold behind the scenes of real-world controversies.
Sources: EW, Harbor Light