‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ goes from bestseller to most watched limited series for Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s Reese Witherspoon-produced, Jennifer Garner-starring drama series The Last Thing He Told Me has become the most-watched limited series since the streaming platform launched in 2019, ABC Audio has confirmed.

Based on Laura Dave‘s bestseller, the show sees Garner’s Hannah and her stepdaughter Bailey (Angourie Rice) looking for Hannah’s husband, Owen (Game of Thrones‘ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who vanishes, and leaves only a cryptic note and a duffel bag full of cash.

The series drew 4.5 million unique viewers in its first 31 days of streaming, and now ranks only behind the Emmy-winning phenomenon Ted Lasso and Shrinking, the dramedy series starring Harrison Ford and co-creator Jason Segel.

Rice explains having the author of the book on board as a producer made all the difference. “What’s so incredible about Laura Dave is that she knows the story inside out. She has an answer for everything,” Rice tells ABC Audio.

“But she’s also curious about what you think and what you want to bring to it. And I think that incredible combination of flexibility, but also complete understanding of the world and the characters and the story that she has created, that is just such a joy and such a treat as an actor to have access to that on set every day,” she adds.

Aisha Tyler plays Hannah’s bestie Jules and said the show appeals to fans of the book, as well as those who haven’t read it. “Like I played (video game) The Last of Us, and then I loved the series because it was just more of what I love about the game,” she says, adding those who have read the novel get “like a super-sized serving of the world that they loved.”