The third episode of HBO’s The Last of Us is getting wild praise from all corners, with some calling it one of the greatest hours of television ever made. With Parks and Recreation‘s Nick Offerman and The White Lotus‘ Murray Bartlett delivering astounding performances as romantic couple Bill and Frank – in a bold deviation from the source material – fans will be surprised to know the pairing was initially going to look a little different.
Nick Offerman’s role was almost given to Chernobyl‘s Con O’Neill but scheduling conflicts with Our Flag Means Death kept him from taking the role, showrunner Craig Mazin revealed on the official The Last Of Us podcast. For Mazin. who had worked with O’Neill on Chernobyl before, it was important to cast LGBT+ actors in these roles, but once the opportunity arose for Offerman to come on board, the screenwriter advised him to research and talk with people who might inform his portrayal of a gay man.
Bartlett, who is gay in real life, responded to a casting call for middle-aged gay men to play Frank – with Mazin confessing he cried watching his audition – but for Offerman the process happened on a baseball field. The actor and Mazin are both “baseball dads,” Offerman told The Hollywood Reporter, who usually hang out at their kids’ “Little League” games.
Also almost passing on the opportunity due to conflicting schedules, it was Offerman’s wife who convinced him to say yes. “Megan wants to go on record as taking full credit for me doing this because in our household it was an impossibility and she said with the clarity of purpose of the Greek goddess Hera, ‘You have to do this,'” he revealed in an interview with GQ.
It was the script that acted as the final nail in the coffin – so good that Offerman just couldn’t say no. After learning Bartlett would be his scene partner, it was a done deal. From then on, he had one single worry: “I just said [to myself], ‘Please don’t fuck this up. Please don’t let me be canceled before I get this episode,'” he shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
Bill and Frank are just business partners in the game, and each character’s story doesn’t exactly line up with what Mazin and game developer Neil Druckmann ended up going with for the show. The results are now clear for all to see as The Last of Us continues to turn heads and attract gazes from the public with each episode. It’ll be hard to beat episode three, through, proving Nick Offerman was absolutely right to say yes.
All three episodes of The Last of Us are now streaming on HBO Max.