SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for Season 2 Episode 4 of The Last Thing He Told Me, titled “Ghosts.”
When The Last Thing He Told Me author Laura Dave thought about continuing Hannah Hall’s story and writing The First Time I Saw Him following the cliffhanger ending in both the first book and Season 1, she had a specific moment of the sequel story already in mind.
Dave wrote the second novel in conjuction with production on Season 2 of the Apple TV series, which sees Jennifer Garner (Hannah), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Owen), Angourie Rice (Bailey) and more reprise their roles from the first season of the thriller show. The moment that brought it all together turned out to be Episode 204’s major twist.
“I knew it was going to be Nicholas’ death. What I really wanted to do with all those characters was make sure that everyone was smart, so Hannah wasn’t wrong to try to make this deal happen, and Grady wasn’t wrong, she was going to be in danger again,” Dave told Deadline. “Everyone was the smartest person in the room. So I knew that it would be a moment when Nicholas dies, that the deal falls apart, that everything would be endangered, and I actually knew he wasn’t really dead.”
At the beginning of Season 2, the five years of calm that Hannah and Bailey had after Hannah struck a deal with Bailey’s grandfather Nicholas that devolved into a familiar chaotic dynamic of being chased. The false death of Nicholas Bell (David Morse) — which evolved from a heart attack and Bailey’s grandfather being poisoned — brought malicious forces out of the woodwork. Nicholas was the only one holding together the sense of peace established between his extended family and the notorious Campanos, a family steeped in crime and drug dealing, who were alluded to in Season 1.
“I had that imagining in my head, so I was writing toward that,” Dave continued. “I was writing toward a couplet that I couldn’t let go, which happens about two thirds of the way through the book.”
It was Nicholas’ employment under Frank Campano (John Noble), that resulted in the complex deal Hannah made with him at the end of the first season, because Hannah’s husband and Bailey’s father Owen Michaels (Coster-Waldau) attempted to expose the Campanos for all of their illegal activity with a drug syndicate. Thus, the Campanos wanted Owen dead, but Frank’s long-standing friendship with Nicholas allowed the latter to barter and keep Hannah and Bailey out of the fray so long as Owen stayed away from them.
“One of the things, when we look[ed] back at the first season, and started thinking about the second season, [co-showrunner] Aaron Zelman came in, and he’s got a lot more experience in television than I do, and [we] started really talking about, how do we really drive home stakes and make the second season feel even more propulsive?” co-showrunner and Dave’s husband Josh Singer (Maestro, First Man) said. “We really didn’t explore the Campanos in the first season. We let Nicholas be the big bad, but now that Nicholas is somewhat defanged — both in the end of the first book, and in the end of the first season, it seemed obvious to Aaron, at least, that we should really lean into, ‘Who are these Campanos? Who are these people?’”
Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Étoile) and Judy Greer (13 Going on 30, Stick) play Frank’s children Teddy and Quinn. Teddy is more in charge of the day-to-day operations of the organization, while Quinn wants nothing to do with her father’s — and now brother’s — business.
L-R: Luke Kirby as Teddy Campano and Judy Greer as Quinn Campano in ‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Season 2
Apple TV
“We were very lucky to get Judy and Luke and John Noble to come and play with us. I worked on Fringe, so John Noble — it was such a joy to have him back. And then, Judy and Luke, I couldn’t believe we were able to get [Luke] to come play. He’s such a wonderful actor, so watchable. And then Judy, that was Jen [Garner]’s idea, actually. And I was more familiar with her in comedic stuff. It really was an embarrassment of riches.”
“One of the great things about this season was being able to, as [executive producer] Lauren Levy Neustadter would say, widen the aperture, and not only have our core group who are so great [to] follow, but then also have the Judy and Luke show, which is incredibly entertaining,” Singer said. “And we’ve got this relationship between Frank and Nicholas, which comes right from the book. We had that part of the book by the time we were finishing up, and to be able to write to those two great actors, David and John. And then of course, writing to Jen and Judy, what more could you ask for? It turns out that those instincts to drive towards the other side, wound up coming around and being quite helpful as we move to the crescendo and climax of the season.”
New episodes of The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2 come out Fridays on Apple TV.