Nick Offerman

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.

Bill (Nick Offerman) is a conspiracy theory survivalist who avoids being carted away with the rest of his town by government operation FEDRA by hiding in his ...

Mazin thought that by episode three of the series—which kicks off with two action and plot-heavy installments—the audience was going to need a moment to breathe. While Bill and Frank appear in the game, their roles are much different: Bill interacts with Joel and Ellie, while Frank is only alluded to as Bill's partner who grew frustrated with confinement, left Bill, and killed himself when he learned he had become infected. For co-creator Craig Mazin, writing the episode was about showing a relationship that thrives in the darkness of this dystopia, but also presenting the different kinds of love that can exist in this world.

Nick Offerman talks going next level as survivalist Bill in "The Last of Us." Bill's lonely life changes with the arrival of Frank (Murray Bartlett).

What bottle of fine wine does Bill choose for their last meal? [Nick Offerman](https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2018/06/15/nick-offerman-ultimate-fathers-day-guide/704178002/) fits the role of Bill as snugly as the gas mask the survivalist dons in HBO's [ "The Last of Us." It was a blast and scary. To me, that's a pretty disposable thought. It's about taking care of one another, selflessness, and committing to be together through the screaming matches. But I happen to be married to someone who's done many Broadway musicals. We have a meal, share some time at the piano and some time in the bedroom and then it slams out the door with us screaming at each other in the street. "It's like, 'Let's just take a second and focus on what actually makes life worth living.' The episode answers questions: 'Why should we give a (expletive)? Exactly where does the love start? And he relishes watching zombies get smoked in his traps. It's the greatest script I've ever been handed. But his comfortable existence within his personal fenced fortress is challenged by trespassing traveler Frank (

Before playing Bill in The Last of Us, Nick Offerman took on another reclusive and mysterious role as Forest in Devs.

Those that missed out on Devs will certainly be surprised to see what a capable dramatic actor Offerman is during his appearances in The Last of Us. Bill’s backstory is one of the key emotional moments, as he explains the death of his partner to Joel. However, Devs proved that he could slowly unravel a complex character in order to deliver a surprising, and absolutely unforgettable dramatic performance. The “Devs” program allows Forest to access memories and recreate moments from the past, but he can’t stop himself from replaying a single moment over and over again. Similar to the empathy that The Last of Us fans felt for Bill when he parted ways with Joel, Offerman is able to make us recognize, yet not approve of Forest’s actions. [The Last of Us stood out because of its emotional impact](https://collider.com/the-last-of-us-must-haves-for-hbo-series/); players got to experience the same emotional journey of a film as they worked their way through the story. [Devs](https://collider.com/tag/devs/) centers on the software engineer Lily Chan ( [Sonoya Mizuno](https://collider.com/tag/sonoya-mizuno/)), who goes out in search of her boyfriend Sergei Pavlov (Karl Glusman) after he mysteriously disappears. However, the simple cadence of Offerman’s voice carries so much conviction that it’s easy to see that Forest believes that he is above everyone else. It’s a masterful dramatic performance that draws the viewers’ attention to the screen, even when Garland’s writing is a little obtuse. In Devs, Forest speaks in such obscure terminology about his mysterious projection project that it’s unclear as to what he’s actually doing. In the first episode, Sergei questions Forest on the protocol and duties involved with his coveted new position. However, one name that might raise a few eyebrows is [Nick Offerman](https://collider.com/tag/nick-offerman/), who is best known for his hilariously endearing role as Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation.

The actor's latest guest role is beautifully against type. (Mild spoilers for the latest episode.)

He has protested that fans who think Ron would have voted for Trump have fundamentally misunderstood “the wholesome and decent values of our show and my character,” and he [seems bewildered](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/nick-offerman-interview-ron-swanson-b1947949.html) by others’ assumption that he has a “weird, Fox News” value system in real life. [comedy shows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtoiSCBEh-k) and [podcasts](https://www.earwolf.com/show/in-bed-with-nick-offerman-and-megan-mullally/) together. He runs a [woodshop](https://offermanwoodshop.com/) where he sometimes hosts [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh6H7Md_L2k) [tours](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIA2Xl8P7Es), and he calls woodworking his “ [other first love](https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/love-humor/nick-offerman-column-thoreau-candy-ass/)” aside from acting. He’s a talented carpenter who can build himself a canoe (and has), but he’ll only use lumber from felled trees, so as to protect local ecosystems from the destructive consequences of deforestation. [When asked](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbZmhgtZkdg) to give an opinion on a drone that could deliver pizza, he muses that he’s accustomed to modern luxuries just like anyone else, but that “we forget to ask questions like ‘Who’s making this pizza? He’s [written](https://nickofferman.co/books/paddle-your-own-canoe/) [books](https://nickofferman.co/books/where-the-deer-and-the-antelope-play/) about his country-life upbringing in Joliet, Illinois, and his road trips across America’s national parks. [red meat](https://nickofferman.substack.com/p/bacon-needs-no-help), and [dark liquor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS-ErOKpO4E), and a deep mistrust for government overreach. His marriage to fellow comedian Megan Mullally, with whom he frequently collaborates, has been a cornerstone of his image for years. Bill’s story arc may seem like a complete subversion of Offerman’s public image, but in truth, his loving heart has been on full display all along. His first book, 2013’s Paddle Your Own Canoe, included diagrams of acceptable cuts of meat (all pork and beef, no poultry or seafood) and styles of facial hair (yes to bushy, no to funny), in the vein of the famous [Swanson Pyramid of Greatness](https://www.nbcstore.com/products/parks-and-recreation-swanson-pyramid-of-greatness-poster). [Outside magazine](https://www.outsideonline.com/byline/nick-offerman/) with tales of trapping raccoons and defending Thoreau. When Bill first appears on the latest episode of The Last of Us, he’s just a shadow in a basement.

OPINION: The heart of this stunning installment lies in the little details, in its idea that love can make the world shrink to a pinprick.

The heart of the episode lies in the little details, in its idea that love can make the world shrink to a pinprick. As a portrait of love in the time of cordecyps, it presents the hope that – even in this maudlin, maddening world – love is the only thing to live for. “I wasn’t scared until I met you,” Bill says at one point, as he (and the audience) understand the beauty and the terror of no longer being alone. Into one of his traps falls Frank (Barlett), a softly-spoken, lone traveller whose band of refugees have all fallen to the infected. Wary and weary, Bill invites Frank inside – allowing him to stay for the night. You feel you already know this couple intimately, or maybe you are that couple. So far, The Last of Us has been at its best when it abandons the big ideas to focus on individual moments of beauty and terror – as a bottle episode, it’s an aching take on who we might have become, where we might have ended up, what we could have done to each other in the worst of circumstances. The episode is exceptional in its economy of storytelling. The story – a kind of zombified Before Sunrise – is a doozy; it skips neatly across time, covering 20 years of the apocalypse – and a lifetime of tender moments between the couple. [Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman](https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/110306046/nick-offerman-bringing-new-show-to-new-zealand) and [The White Lotus’ Murray Bartlett](https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/126053322/eat-the-rich-the-white-lotus-and-what-we-want-out-of-tv-wealth), who play a pair thrown together in the early aftermath of the zombie apocalypse. [The Last of Us: Is this the best-ever TV series based on a video game?](https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/stuff-to-watch/300777639/the-last-of-us-is-this-the-bestever-tv-series-based-on-a-video-game?rm=a) [The Last of Us, HBO’s new apocalyptic drama](https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/stuff-to-watch/300777639/the-last-of-us-is-this-the-bestever-tv-series-based-on-a-video-game) (which airs here on Neon and Sky TV’s SoHo) starring [Pedro Pascal](https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/300228121/pedro-pascal-to-play-joel-in-the-last-of-us-hbo-series-adaptation) and [Bella Ramsay](https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/94495158/game-of-thrones-a-guide-to-minor-characters-whose-names-youve-probably-forgotten) as a surrogate father-daughter duo making their way through an American wasteland in an alternate 2023, the show’s vast budget allows us to imagine that alternate world – one where a disease won – and a pandemic overwhelmed civilisation.

There were times on the set of HBO's The Last of Us when members of the Alberta crew would ask Nick Offerman technical questions about things that are ...

Neither genre has historically been known for giving depth or even much screen time to queer characters. The episode was largely shot in High River, which is transformed into an abandoned but oddly idyllic small-town community for the pair. I can finally be happy with all of my systems and all of my intricate survival techniques.’ But I think what we learn is when you crack that hard outer shell, the centre of it is the seed of vulnerability. One day, a survivor named Frank, played by Bartlett, falls into one of his traps. He also wrote the foreword for something called The Tool Book: A Tool Lover’s Guide to More than 200 Hand Tools. Article content

Parks and Rec is at its best when Ron and Tammy, played by real-life couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, are making out or fighting it out.

It’s Ron's care for Tom that brings him back to himself in “Ron & Tammy: Part 2” in Season 3, and love for his new partner and family in later seasons that keeps him out of Tammy’s arms altogether. “Ron and Tammy,” our introduction to the woman and the relationship, was the eighth episode of Season 2 of Parks and Recreation, early in the show’s run while it was still figuring out its tone and how its characters would respond to Leslie’s unrelenting energy and optimism. Gone is both his reserve and resolve — with Tammy, Ron is a powder keg of emotions and a puppet on her g-string. Once again, it’s only the bonds of friendship that free him, when he watches Tammy smack Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) around and remembers once again that looking into Tammy’s eyes is like “staring into the eye of Satan’s butthole.” Throughout the rest of Parks and Recreation, her increasingly and hysterically unhinged attempts to get Ron back into bed and into the palm of her hand fail — his love for another brunette with a new name, Diane (Lucy Lawless), finally overpowers his horny hate for his second ex-wife. What starts as coffee leads to screaming and then to snogging, first in the middle of a diner and then in the hourly embrace of a motel bed. The actors' chemistry and ease together as performers allow both to go truly, hilariously off the rails while revealing a side of Ron no other character can bring out, making every wild encounter an uncomfortable delight and a key bit of storytelling.

With his portrayal of Bill in The Last of Us, Nick Offerman delivers a memorable performance worthy of heralding for years to come.

But with his portrayal of Bill in The Last of Us, Offerman proves that his talents exceed previous expectations and are so wildly compelling that he could easily see award nominations for this performance or future ones. He was mired in his own stew of cynicism and paranoia, but now dread and trepidation follow him at every turn, for the fear of losing Frank to the perils of this horrifying world is omnipresent. When Joel offers Bill a deal that will help secure his fence and thereby provide safety for both Bill and Frank, there is a war of emotions in Bill's eyes. Joel has correctly found Bill's weakness, his love for Frank, and although Bill does not wish to rely on a stranger, he knows that if Joel is telling the truth, such supplies could come in handy. Frank persuades Bill to momentarily drop his guard and allow Frank inside for a bite to eat. When Bill takes off his gas mask and surveys the otherwise empty streets, Offerman's look of mischievous self-satisfaction says it all: this is the moment that he's been waiting for his entire life. Fortunately, the series adaptation gives Bill countless opportunities to change and grow, with Murray Bartlett's Frank gently pushing him along the way. The distinction is that the game's version of Bill is incapable of changing or softening the harder edges of his nature. After Offerman's Bill avoids government evacuation by hiding out in a secret survivalist shelter, he becomes the lone owner and occupant of a small town. Offerman's performance allows the audience to experience Bill's full transformation from gruff hermit to tragic, empathetic lover, and this is why it is the greatest performance that Offerman has ever given. In the game it is unclear what happens to Bill after he sees Joel and Ellie off on their journey, but HBO's Bill never even has the opportunity to meet Ellie or see Joel again. [The Last of Us](https://collider.com/tag/the-last-of-us/) video game's version of Bill is a man stubbornly set in his ways who often irritates, antagonizes, and alienates the people around him, HBO's version of the character is a layered and deeply satisfying portrayal, showcasing both Bill's harder, less likable edges and his deeply sensitive, long-suffering heart.