Smoke creator reveals he had to hide a key detail of the show from Apple TV+: Here’s why

*Disclaimer: Major spoilers for Apple TV+’s Smoke ahead*

Apple TV+’s Smoke has concluded its run after nine thrilling episodes. The crime drama ended with a surprise revelation that no one saw coming. The show revolves around Dave Gudsen, an arson investigator, and Michelle Calderone, a detective, who team up to track down two serial arsonists.

By the end of the series, it becomes clear that Dave himself is one of the arsonists. But that is not the only shock the creators had planned for the audience. In the final scene of the series, it is revealed that Dave does not actually look like the actor Taron Egerton, who played him through the series, but instead he is an old and limping man.

Egerton’s face was actually Dave’s projection of who he thinks he is. Smoke creator Dennis Lehane has now revealed that he had to hide this important detail from the executives of Apple TV+, as they would not have agreed to it, but it was an important part of the plot.

Smoke creator kept Dave Gudsen’s real identity hidden from Apple TV+

Dennis Lehane recently gave an interview to Variety, where he opened up about the Smoke finale. The series creator disclosed that during the early days of writing the script, he came up with the idea of Taron Egerton’s face being only a projection for Dave Gudsen’s character.

Lehane said even his writers were surprised by the move, and they had to hide it from Apple TV+ executives, who would not have agreed with the plot point:

“I remember the day I came in and said, ‘Dave is not Dave. Dave does not look like Taron Egerton.’ It was pretty early, and we hid it from Apple because we knew they’d hate it — and they did. And everybody was like, ‘What?!’ And I was like, ‘No, he’s projecting!’ That storyline is about his projection. He’s projecting who he is.”

The series finale does not explain what happens to Dave after his interrogation by Michelle. Lehane opened up about the aftermath of the events and said Dave would have received support from the media and the public:

“I think Dave becomes a media darling, a hero of the right, a victim. I think Dave becomes the Karen Reed of his time, and he’s going to have a whole contingent of the population who says, ‘This guy’s innocent. This guy was framed.’ Which, in this case, they’re right!”

Smoke premiered on Apple TV+ on June 27, 2025, and aired its final episode on August 15, 2025. The show earned positive reviews from the audience and critics and soon achieved a dedicated fan following.

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The series stars Taron Egerton as Dave Gudsen (or the projection of him), Jurnee Smollett as Detective Michelle Calderone, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine as Freddy Fasano, Greg Kinnear as Commander Harvey Englehart, Rafe Spall as Captain Steven Burke, Hannah Emily Anderson as Ashley Gudsen, and John Leguizamo as Ezra Esposito.

All episodes of Smoke are now streaming on Apple TV+.

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