Filming the scene of Henry's rebirth occurred at a university swimming pool and recreated with computer-generated imagery.
Later that day, New York Police (NYPD) detective Jo Martinez (Alana de la Garza) arrives at the crash, where she learns that investigators had determined that the engineer had died of a heart attack.
Henry wants to leave New York City after the phone call, but his friend and roommate Abe (Judd Hirsch) convinces him to stay and confront the stalker.
Later, a fingerprint Henry and Lucas found on the engineer's body leads Jo to Hans Kohler (Lee Tergesen), whose wife was killed in a subway crash involving the deceased engineer; the revelation disproves Henry's theory about the motive behind the accident.
In the third one, set at the end of World War II, Henry walks up to a nurse, Abigail, who hands him an infant boy, Abe, who was rescued from a Nazi concentration camp.
[5] The details about the character's immortality, his ability to end it, and his desire to do so would serve as the series' main story arc.
Miller stated in an interview with BuddyTV writer Catherine Cabanela that he had never seen that type of family on television before, and he believed that it provide the show with an emotional element.
[6] Miller felt that Henry's rebirth in water would be an interesting way to keep the show's protagonist alive during the series.
The idea of Henry returning to life naked completed the death and rebirth process; it also would create several comedic moments within the series.
Miller wanted the actors to read the script so that he could see whether the audience would believe that the man had been alive for over 200 years.
[20] For Miller, Gruffudd's period work, such as in the series Horatio Hornblower, made him an obvious selection for the role.
[23] The show's procedural aspect,[16] the series' serialized nature, and the believability of the world[24] interested de la Garza.
[29] Casting initially did not feel that Keshawarz could portray a NYPD detective, but his work on Homeland convinced them otherwise.
[42] The pilot was filmed in multiple locations on New York City's Lower East Side during the week of March 14, 2014.
The Earnest Sewn store on Orchard Street, which had previously been used in the Cinemax series The Knick in 2013, was used as the set for the antique shop.
[27] When ABC picked up Forever, the crew leased[43] the Louis Zuflacht building on Stanton Street[44] and used it as the sets for the shop and for Henry and Abe's apartment.
[46] Gruffudd and the crew filmed the rebirth scene against a green screen in a university swimming pool[47] due to the strength of the East River's current.
ABC screened the pilot at the CMA Music Festival block party on June 6 and 7, 2014, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Although Paul Dailly of TV Fanatic thought that the crime felt "forced", he called the characters and the premise "exciting" and stated that he enjoyed the episode.
[56] USA Today's Robert Bianco gave "Pilot" three out of four stars, claiming that the premise had been well-plotted but the crime was not interesting.
[57] Verne Gay of Newsday believed that the show's stars would appeal to the audience more than the series' plot device.
[58] Michael Landweber of PopMatters felt that the immortality aspect of the show was more interesting than the case and that the flashback to Henry and Abe's connection was very emotional.
[59] San Francisco Gate's David Wiegand called "Pilot" "ambitious" but felt that, in spite of the believability of the crime, the episode was unbelievable.
[61] When Forever premiered on Spain's Antena 3 on July 15, 2015, about 2,316,000 viewers watched "Pilot", making it the highest-rated primetime series for the night for the channel.
[65] Many users compared Henry to Jordi Hurtado, the host of Saber y ganar[64] whose appearance seemed to had been unchanged over the series' run.