Even though shows like Ted Lasso and Severance are known hits for Apple TV+, it’s the limited series The Last Thing He Told Me that has recently been breaking some impressive records. Based on the novel of the same name by Laura Dave, who developed the show with Josh Singer, and consisting of seven episodes, The Last Thing He Told Me centers around Hannah Hall (Jennifer Garner) as she forms a bond with her stepdaughter after her husband disappears under mysterious circumstances.
According to Variety, which obtained data from Nielsen, The Last Thing He Told Me is Apple TV+’s most-watched limited series since the streaming service debuted in 2019. The adaptation not only beat out other limited series, like Taron Egerton’s Black Bird and the Elizabeth Moss thriller Shining Girls, but it also wins over ongoing dramas like the spy dramedy Slow Horses. In its first 31 days of streaming, The Last Thing He Told Me reached 4.5 million unique viewers. The premiere reached 3.4 million viewers, making it Apple’s most-watched drama episode of the year so far.
Why Has The Last Thing He Told Me Become A Hit?
Overall, The Last Thing He Told Me is Apple’s No. 3 original of 2023 — just behind Ted Lasso and Shrinking. There are likely three big factors that contribute to the show’s success. The first is that it plays on the Big Little Lies approach of adapting a popular novel. The Last Thing He Told Me is similarly influenced by Big Little Lies in its premise, its team behind the scenes (as it’s executive produced by Reese Witherspoon), and even the opening credits evoke the HBO hit. Also, like Big Little Lies, the cast is familiar to audiences.
Garner has a following thanks to her role as Sydney Bristow on Alias, in addition to films like 13 Going on 30. She’s joined in the Last Thing He Told Me cast by Angourie Rice, known for Spider-Man: Far From Home and Mare of Easttown, as Hannah’s stepdaughter. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays the missing husband, was in Game of Thrones. Aisha Tyler, of Friends and Criminal Minds, among many other credits, has a prominent supporting part.
Perhaps most helpfully, The Last Thing He Told Me isn’t a daunting time commitment. Its seven episodes fly by, with even the finale not going beyond the 36-minute mark. Other installments hover around that length, making it the relatively rare streaming offering which doesn’t suffer from needlessly extended runtimes. This may well have helped it with audiences when so many other shows stretch for almost an hour or even longer.
Source: Variety
