‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Ending Explained: How Does the Jennifer Garner Thriller End?

Apple TV+‘s The Last Thing He Told Me ends with Hannah Hall (Jennifer Garner) making a heartbreaking sacrifice for her stepdaughter Bailey (Angourie Rice). The dangerous decision Hannah makes ensures that Bailey will get to continue to live a life full of the people, places, and passions that define her, but at the cost of either of them ever getting to see Bailey’s dad and Hannah’s beloved husband Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) ever again. Or is that what happens?

In The Last Thing He Told Me, Hannah Hall’s idyllic San Francisco house boat-living, wood-sculpting life is shattered forever when it briefly seems her handsome husband Owen might be a bad guy. Owen goes on the run when his tech start up is accused of fraud, leaving only a bag of cash and cryptic notes for Hannah and Bailey.

While everyone is convinced that Owen left because he is a scammer, the truth is far more wild. Owen’s real name is Ethan. Years ago, he fell in love with and married Kate Smith (Tate Moore), the daughter of mobster lawyer Nicholas Bell (David Morse). When Ethan realized the scope of criminal activity Nicholas was covering up, he turned witness for the feds. In retribution for this leak, Kate was killed, Nicholas went to jail for six years, and Ethan had to go on the run with daughter Kristin. When Witness Protection failed Ethan and Kristin, he manufactured new identities for them: Owen and Bailey Michaels. The press coverage of his business’s scandal would put him back in the public eye, hence why Owen ran.

While trying to sort all this out, Hannah and Bailey find themselves in Texas and on Nicholas Bell’s radar. Agent Grady Bradford (Augusto Aguilera) wants Hannah and Bailey to enter Witness Protection, where they can eventually be reunited with Owen, but Hannah’s not sure. After all, Bell’s criminal associates had infiltrated Witness Protection before. And Bailey and Hannah would have to change not just their names, but everything about themselves, including their respective passions for musical theater and wood sculpting. (I’m not joking. That is the implication!)

So what does Hannah do? And does the ending of The Last Thing He Told Me teases one last spark of romance between Hannah and Owen, but what does it mean for Hannah and Bailey’s future? How exactly did Hannah’s deal with Nicholas Bell work out? And what does Owen’s final line — “The could-have-been boys still love you” — mean? Here’s everything you need to know about the ending of Apple TV+’s The Last Thing He Told Me…

The Last Thing He Told Me Ending Explained: What Deal Does Hannah Strike With Nicholas Bell?

Instead of entering Witness Protection, Hannah does what she thinks Owen would want for Bailey: she strikes a deal with Nicholas Bell.

As Hannah understands it, Bell’s associates aren’t mad at her or Bailey, but Owen. Kate was only targeted because of her proximity to Owen. And so, Hannah proposes that Bell makes a deal that ensures that she and Bailey can return home to their truly stunning house boat in San Fransisco. Owen/Ethan can never see either of them again. He’ll have to live off the grid, in fear for his life. But Hannah and Bailey can continue to turn wood and belt Broadway songs in a student theater. What does Nicholas get if he can ensure this? Time with Bailey.

The deal seems to work as the final scene takes us five years into the future. While waiting for a college-aged Bailey to arrive at her swanky new store, Hannah notices an incognito Owen. When she drops brochures, he comes to help her pick them up. He sensually touches her wrist and says, “The could-have-been boys still love you.” He then leaves before Bailey arrives to call Hannah, “Mom.”

What Does the Last Thing Owen Tells Hannah in The Last Thing He Told Me Mean?

Confused by Owen’s last words to Hannah in The Last Thing He Told Me? Don’t worry! It’s a callback to a scene all the way back in Episode 2.

In The Last Thing He Told Me Episode 2, Hannah recalls a fun date with Owen where they drank white wine al fresco. It serves as an introduction to Hannah’s ex-boyfriend, power lawyer Jake (Geoff Stults). Owen admits he was working up the courage to ask Hannah about her “could-have-been boys.” He claims it’s a Bailey phrase for ex-boyfriends. As in, the boys who could have been Hannah’s endgame.

By saying, “the could-have-been boys still love you,” Owen is not only professing his enduring love for Hannah, but also confirming he can’t be with her. They cannot have a happily ever after.

So Owen loves her, but Hannah can’t hope to reconnect with him. He’s a “could-have-been boy.”