Murray Bartlett

For its first two episodes, HBO's “The Last of Us” remains remarkably true to its source material, the 2013 Playstation 3 video game widely regarded as one of ...

“Even though I’m not a middle-aged, married gay man, I’m a middle-aged, married man,” he said. “So this was a great counterpoint of what you stand to gain in this very beautiful way.” You get all the lows and highs of a relationship.” But for the series, he was especially taken with how Mazin and Druckmann had used Bill and Frank’s story as a respite from the “emotionally draining” aspects of the game that made him feel like “human beings are shit,” rather than leaning into it. It was important to me to show the span of a relationship accounting for that. “There was loads of layers to all of this, which I also love because it’s a huge, huge undertaking,” said Hoar. “It’s this incredibly well-outfitted boat, and were the two sailors brought on board,” Offerman said. “In a world that’s monstrous and alienating, the opportunity to show intimacy allows it to be even more poignant,” he said. It felt it was a worthwhile change because of what we were getting in return.” “Frank’s an out and proud gay man, but Bill is Bill,” he said. Written by Mazin and directed by Peter Hoar (“It’s a Sin”), it is easily one of the most extraordinary episodes of television in recent memory, managing to capture in its 75-minute runtime the full arc of Bill and Frank’s profound connection to each other in all of its complexity. Whereas Bill focused all his energy on being a “survivor,” Frank “needed more out of life.”

Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett interviewed about that unexpected romantic detour in 'The Last of Us' episode 3.

It’s a testament to the beautiful writing and crafting of this show that it gives space for this which makes it even more powerful. That final moment allows you to remember all the things you’ve seen of this relationship, rather than confining it to a final image of these people. Bill is such a survivalist and such a pragmatist that making the decision to end his life is sort of the ultimate sacrifice for his character – not just as an act of love, but that it goes against everything we knew about his nature until they met. And because the scenes that we’re playing are so beautiful, I love those scenes. Murray Bartlett: You want to be authentically believable in whatever you’re doing, so I was hyper aware and obsessive about trying to get those details right. I’m not a gamer, so I wasn’t familiar with the game, but I am a huge fan of Chernobyl, which was one of the best pieces of television I had ever seen. And I don’t have a lot of vanity. It seems like the more that time passes in Hollywood, both actors and audiences have gotten, oddly enough, less comfortable with portraying sex and intimacy on screen. Nick Offerman: You don’t put a gun on the stage if you don’t intend to see it fired. Or is it only the situation which makes the viewers so uncertain about him? Craig said, “Here’s the script and, and you get to do this with Murray Bartlett.” I just said [to myself[, “Please don’t fuck this up. [Nick Offerman](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/nick-offerman/)) and affable traveler Frank (The White Lotus‘ [Murray Bartlett](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/murray-bartlett/)) who become lovers that successfully fend off the horrors of the outside world across a 20-year partnership.

TV series creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin talk to Deadline about what went into creating 'The Last of Us' Episode 3: "Long Long Time"

When he sent me that script, I said, “This is one of the most beautiful scripts I’ve ever read.” And I felt this joy that it emerged out of the foundation that was there in the game. MAZIN: Well, we felt really good about the script, and we felt really good about our cast, and we felt really good about our director. And it seemed like a good place for us to go; there’s an opportunity to show both the idea of this permanent love that’s always going to be there in that building, in their home, but also just the theme of that window being the epitome of peace in the world of The Last of Us. It was so beautiful and moving and kind of hit the mark as far as speaking to the themes and increasing the stakes for Joel and Ellie in an interesting way. We don’t have to stay with our two heroes the entire journey, and we don’t have to stay in the same time and location. And there was just the idea of taking a break because the last episode was so intense, and we lost Tess. And why did you feel that you needed to tell the story this way? And I wanted a song that wasn’t overplayed or too popular, but I also didn’t want a song that was just so obscure that it felt almost like we had set it up ourselves, and I could not find it for the life of me. More specifically, in expanding and creating a new narrative for Bill and Frank that is so different from the source material. I knew there was this moment where Frank would play a song and he would butcher it, and then Bill would play it, and Frank would be blown away. After watching Sunday’s stellar and heartbreakingly tender third episode of The Last of Us, it’s not difficult to see why a person might consider it one of the best pieces of television this year. It’s a 75-minute character study that wonderfully captures the essence and beauty of a life well lived amongst the bleakness of the outbreak through the eyes of two lovers named Bill ( [Nick Offerman](https://deadline.com/tag/nick-offerman/)) and Frank ( [Murray Bartlett](https://deadline.com/tag/murray-bartlett/)).

Actors Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman sit down with Complex to talk about their moving arc on the third episode of 'The Last of Us,' titled “Long Long ...

Go to the places that the script asked us to go to, to be vulnerable, and to fill out what the script was asking us to do. MB: I feel like we—all of us, all the departments—felt a great love for this script. MB: I always hesitate to say this word because I feel like I need to put a hashtag in front of it, but we were blessed with a great script that had all the nuances of the relationship and the characters in it. And it was one of the last scenes that we shot. We just needed to follow the breadcrumbs and connect the dots of what we were doing. If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage, as it were. It’s so complete, it’s so nuanced, it happens over a long period of time, and it punches in at sort of just the right moments to fill out the picture of what this relationship is in such an extraordinary way. In thinking about this episode, I keep coming back to the idea of empathy. [Laughs.] I have said this before, but it’s the truth; it’s one of the most beautiful episodes of television I’ve ever read in that it’s beautiful writing and feels like a film. Go to the places that the script asked us to go to, to be vulnerable, and to fill out what the script was asking us to do.” “One of the beautiful things for me about this experience was being paired with Nick and finding that both of us wanted to just go there. “We were blessed with a great script that had all the nuances of the relationship and the characters in it.

'When asked if I would have the courage to do anything... I have to assume, no,' Offerman said.

New episodes arrive on Mondays at 2am GMT. He continued: “I would certainly want to... And in that context of being in that situation, having had the incredible connection they had, I would be very drawn to that concept but I’m not sure that I would have the guts to fully go through with it.”

The Last Of Us' third episode is light on mushroom zombies, heavy on LGBTQ+ romance (and Linda Ronstadt)

Compared to the [game’s treatment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lav8p-bbTGk) of Bill’s transformation of Lincoln and partnership with Frank, the HBO adaptation is a sexually explicit and emotionally layered portrait of a middle-aged gay relationship. After Bill and Frank’s swan song, Joel and Ellie return to the narrative. Frank, in the final stages of ALS, must use a wheelchair and passes the time painting watercolors. [Parks and Recreation](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/parks-and-recreation) and [The White Lotus](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/the-white-lotus) is a risk that pays off. He grabs a pistol and races downstairs and out the front door. (Bartlett deserves an Emmy nod just for the look Frank gives the freshly showered Bill after tugging his towel away, a tiramisu of lust and solicitude.) One afternoon he detects an intruder along the perimeter and confronts a filthy, bearded but charming man (Murray Bartlett) who has fallen into one of his pit traps. He’s embracing the breakdown of society with the glee of a teenage kid who throws a party when his parents go on vacation. The episode is essentially an artfully telescoped film sandwiched by Joel and Ellie hiking west of Boston, getting supplies and a truck, and driving out. Twenty years back, a whole village of people was rounded up and massacred by FEDRA troops, because the Quarantine Zone (Q.Z.) was already full. All of which is cause to celebrate “Long Long Time,” where the tropes are markedly different; it’s a survivalist chic, rom-com, and disease-of-the-week weepie. But the culture has churned out a ton of grimdark dystopia in the past twenty years or so, no?