The Last Thing He Told Me is based on Laura Dave’s fictional novel, although some elements in the mystery drama appear overly realistic, implying that it may have drawn inspiration from actual life. The Last Thing He Told Me, starring Jennifer Garner and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, depicts a woman’s hunt for the truth behind her husband’s unexpected absence, who leaves her a note saying she must protect her stepdaughter.

While largely focused on Hannah’s search for her missing husband’s whereabouts, The Last Thing He Told Me progressively unravels the tapestry surrounding Hannah’s relationship with her husband and the possible reasons for his leaving.

The first two episodes of Hannah’s husband, Owen, imply that he was likely involved in a scam committed by the computer company he worked for and is on the run to evade federal inquiry. Despite the fact that it appears to be the most reasonable explanation for Owen’s absence, Hannah is suspicious that there is more to the story than meets the eye. Although The Last Thing He Told Me never directly indicates that the scam is modeled on a true-life corporate incident, it is.

Is The Last Thing He Told Me Based On A True Story?

Laura Dave previously stated that the Enron scandal, in which a US-based energy firm was discovered to have ‘hidden’ billions of dollars in debt, was her primary influence for The Last Thing He Told Me. The highly publicized drama resulted in the company declaring bankruptcy, the dissolution of its accounting firm, and the introduction of new regulations and legislation to improve the accuracy of financial reporting by public corporations.

“I saw an interview back then with Linda Lay, the wife of Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, in which she said, ‘My husband’s done nothing wrong,” Dave said in Variety in 2021. He is innocent.’

“I had no idea whether she believed it or not. I started thinking about a lady who is freshly married to someone who the world tells her is so contradictory to her idea of who her husband is.”

Almost two decades later, another major business scandal occurred when Theranos, a healthcare company that claimed to have groundbreaking new blood testing technology, was revealed to be false. “I think what those two cases really have in common, and it’s one of the things that was really interesting to me about it,” Dave stated exclusively to RadioTimes.com.

“And there’s so much arrogance in believing you can get away with embezzlement and fraud on such a huge scale… What is the tale that someone is telling himself – or, in Theranos’ case, herself – that permits that narrative to continue to the point where there is so much collateral damage?”

“I’m actually not surprised that it still goes on because, at our core, it’s storytelling,” she continued. You’re either going to commit your life to constructing a story that is for the better or – without being binary – for the worst.

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“As a result, you have to be extremely cautious about the narrative you’re diving into.” And, whether it’s Theranos, Madoff, or Enron, the constant denominator is that people become so engrossed in a story – their own personal story, their own personal narcissism – that they lose the thread.”

‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Also Parallels Another Scandal

With the Theranos trial, we witnessed history somewhat repeat itself, as founder Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to more than a decade in jail for defrauding investors with her blood testing system.

Laura recently spoke with Radio Times on the similarities between the trial and her novel. Jennifer Garner as Hannah Michaels, with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Owen Michaels from ‘The Last Thing He Told Me’.

“I think what those two cases have in common, and it’s one of the things that was really interesting to me about it, is the idea of hubris,” she said.

“And there’s so much hubris involved in thinking you can get away with embezzlement, with fraud on such a grand scale,” she went on. “What is the story someone is telling himself – or, in the case of Theranos, herself – that allows that narrative to go on to the point where there’s so much collateral damage?”

“I’m not surprised it’s still going on because, at its core, it’s storytelling.” You’re either going to commit your life in constructing a story that is for the better or – without being binary – for the worst. “As a result, you have to be extremely cautious about what narrative you’re diving into,” Laura added.

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“And in the case of Theranos or Madoff or all the way back to Enron, the common denominator is that people get so invested in a story – their own personal story, their own personal narcissism – that they lose the thread,” Laura said. And I enjoy trying to identify the common thread for them and implying that not everything is all awful.”