Plus, the author and series co-creator discusses the surprising original ending to the book.
Warning: This article contains spoilers from the finale ofThe Last Thing He Told Me.
But there are a few changes.
Jennifer Garner as Hannah in ‘The Last Thing He Told Me’.Saeed Adyani/Apple TV+
What was the thought process behind those and did you toy with making any larger changes?
We wanted to provide some humanity there.
So that was one alteration that was sort of on the larger side.
Laura Dave.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
But a lot of it was moving in a similar manner toward that final moment.
And that was going to be the whole movement of the show.
But what we had here was that it was really a meeting of the mind and a manipulation.
So watching those two actors perform in that scene, was a big few days for me.
Let’s talk about the finale.
What do you think Owen thinks of Hannah’s ultimate decision?
I have spent so much time thinking about what Owen thinks.
So I have all of those answers.
I imagine he did not think or want her to get on a plane and go to Austin.
That said, what he knew she would do is anything that needed to be done for Bailey.
Let’s talk about his decision to come back into Hannah’s life, ever so briefly.
Do you think that was selfish of him to do?
I understand why people might be angry that he came when he did.
I understand that this entire time he’s been watching them and worrying about them.
Do you think Hannah tells Bailey about the encounter?
So what I am gathering from this, is that maybe we should expect a sequel?
What I will say is, I had no intention of writing a sequel.
I had no intention of it when I was writing the first one.
It was closed for me.
So now I don’t know.
I can imagine the world in which that sequel could come to be.
Have your own feelings about the ending changed over time?
I had an original ending for the first five years I was working on the book.
I would put it down and pick it up and put it down and pick it up.
People mother fur babies, people mother friends.
I love the idea of paying homage to found families in all the ways they look.
That was the ending I was holding the closest to.
Can you imagine Hannah and Owen being together at some point in the distant future?
I can imagine it.
I can imagine the answer…
It’s sort of like Schrodinger’s cat, but it’s Schrodinger’s Hannah.
I can picture it going one way or another way.
And that sometimes she imagines what would’ve happened if she called out.
And I sort of think about that last moment like that.
I think that ambiguity is probably what makes the ending have such a lasting impact, though.
Or someone’s good, and they reunite.
But what happens if neither of those things get to happen?
If someone is good and they’re lost to you, what does that look like?
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
