The picturesque settings in the Apple TV+ mystery thriller The Last Thing He Told Me are more than just pretty backdrops. They play a huge role in telling the story of Hannah (Jennifer Garner) and her stepdaughter Bailey (Angourie Rice) as they race to uncover the truth about their missing husband and father.
While the show takes viewers on a emotional road trip from a peaceful California bay to the bustling streets of Texas, the actual filming locations are a mix of real-life spots and clever Hollywood magic. Production designer Christopher Brown and his team worked hard to make sure every location felt authentic, even when they were filming hundreds of miles away from where the story takes place .
The series, which premiered on April 14, 2023, was filmed from early May 2022 to early September 2022 . Here is a breakdown of where this gripping seven-episode series was shot.
The Floating Home in Sausalito, California
One of the most memorable locations in the series is the floating home where Hannah, Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), and Bailey live. This is not a set piece built in a studio—it is a real home located in the charming town of Sausalito, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco .
The community in Sausalito is famous for its hundreds of unique houseboats and floating homes spread across several marinas . For the show, the production team chose a specific home named “Brown Sugar,” which was originally built by architect David Spurgeon in 1979 . This three-story home sits on Liberty Dock and features two bedrooms and two bathrooms .
Production designer Christopher Brown explained why this particular home stood out. “The house itself is a pretty stunning piece of architecture,” he said. “From the start, we talked about what is the through line with Hannah and wood, and the secrets or the pieces and things that are interesting inside wood” . The home’s exposed beam structures and unpainted wood perfectly connected to Hannah’s character as a woodworking artist .
However, fans should note that only the exterior shots of the home were filmed in Sausalito. Once the characters step inside, viewers are seeing a carefully recreated set built on a soundstage in Los Angeles . This allowed the filmmakers to have complete control over lighting and camera angles without dealing with the challenges of shooting on water.
San Francisco Landmarks
The show also takes advantage of several iconic San Francisco locations to establish the family’s happy life in the Bay Area.
In the first episode, Hannah visits a bakery at the historic Ferry Building Marketplace . This landmark, completed in 1898, was transformed into a bustling marketplace in 2002 and is filled with gourmet food vendors and artisan shops . The production team also worked with Heath Ceramics, a real store in the Ferry Building, to let them restyle their booth for the scene where Hannah delivers a wooden bowl she has made .
Hannah’s best friend Jules (Aisha Tyler) is seen taking a phone call at Oracle Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants . Getting permission to film there required careful scheduling around the baseball team’s games. “The Giants were in town, and the facility and Major League Baseball were accommodating to our needs and willing to play ball with what we needed,” Brown said .
The production also filmed at a Blue Bottle Coffee location on 2nd Street near the Salesforce tower. Brown noted that they scouted nine different Blue Bottle locations in the city to find one that provided the right inside/outside texture .
The famous Golden Gate Bridge makes several appearances throughout the series. One particular shot was captured from the Marin Headlands road, located just north of the bridge in Marin County .
Austin, Texas
When the story moves to Texas, the production actually did pack up and film in Austin for four days . The cast and crew shot at numerous locations around the city to capture the authentic feel of Texas’ capital.
University of Texas Campus
Several scenes were filmed at the University of Texas at Austin. Jennifer Garner shared her positive experience filming there with TV Guide. “We loved UT. My dad’s an Aggie, so that’s front and center for me, but we loved being on the campus” .
Specific locations on campus include the massive DKR Texas Memorial Stadium, home to the Texas Longhorns football team, which seats over 100,000 people . The production also filmed at the Bass Concert Hall, the Gates Dell Complex, and the Perry-Castañeda Library .
Lady Bird Lake and the Butterfly Bridge
The cast and crew were spotted filming on Lady Bird Lake (formerly known as Town Lake) and the Butterfly Bridge on Shoal Creek Boulevard . Garner even posted a video on Instagram in August 2022 showing herself and Rice waving from a small pink boat on the water .
Congress Avenue Bridge Bats
One of the most memorable scenes in the series involves Hannah and Bailey watching bats emerge from under the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. This is a real phenomenon in Austin, as the bridge is home to over one million Mexican free-tailed bats .
Brown described the experience of filming there. “We were fortunate enough to get permission to take actors and shooting crew down onto the river path and shoot the actual bats as they came out on two nights” . He noted that when they first scouted the location in February, the bats were hibernating. By May, they were active and provided an amazing natural spectacle for the show .
Other Austin Locations
The production also shot on Sixth Street, known for its vibrant nightlife, and on Congress Avenue looking up toward the Texas Capitol . The exterior of the fictional Town Hotel where Hannah and Bailey stay was filmed at the JW Marriott in downtown Austin .
Los Angeles Area Stand-Ins
While the production did film on location in both California and Texas, many scenes were actually shot in and around Los Angeles. This is a common practice in filmmaking, and the team behind The Last Thing He Told Me used several LA-area locations to represent other places.
The Never Dry Bar
The bar scenes set in Austin were not filmed in Texas at all. The interior of the bar where Hannah follows a clue was shot at Edendale in Silverlake, California . The exterior shots of the bar, meant to represent Sixth Street in Austin, were actually filmed in Pomona, California. Eagle-eyed viewers might notice an arched sign reading “Arts Colony” in the background, which confirms the location as Pomona’s Arts Colony district .
The Town Hotel
The fictional Town Hotel was what Brown called a “Hollywood Frankenstein” made from three different locations . The hotel room suite was built on a stage. The atrium and lobby interiors were filmed at an Embassy Suites in Los Angeles. Only the practical exteriors were shot at the JW Marriott in Austin .
The Sanctuary House
In the final episode, Hannah visits a fictional Texas property called the Sanctuary House. This location was actually the Hummingbird Nest Ranch in Santa Susana, California . This stunning 1920s Spanish Colonial-style estate is a popular wedding and event venue .
Production designer Brown explained that finding an isolated spot was crucial for this location. “We had lots and lots of night photography where twinkling lights from the Hollywood Hills were gonna spoil the illusion that the fantastic house was in the Hill Country next to a lake” . The team even painted one room’s white stucco walls a deep black-green color and hung framed pistols and rifles to create a more threatening atmosphere .
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Other LA-Area Locations
The interior of the art gallery where Hannah displays her work was filmed at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles . The fictional headquarters of Owen’s software company, The Shop, was filmed at The Flats @ 225 building in Thousand Oaks, near Los Angeles. This five-story building was originally developed for Exxon’s regional headquarters .
The small chapel that appears in one scene was filmed at the Church of Our Saviour in San Gabriel, California .
The series has been renewed for a second season, which was announced in March 2024 . Fans are excited to see where the story will take Hannah and Bailey next, and whether the production will return to these beautiful locations.
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