The best line in ‘The Last of Us’ didn’t even start out as dialogue

Warning: This article contains spoilers for HBO Max’s The Last of Us episode three, “Long, Long Time.”

Creating stunning and emotionally impactful TV is quite the process of collaboration, and HBO’s The Last of Us is no different. Despite being only three episodes in, the critical and commercial success of the show has already been enough to ensure that the growing fan base will get to see a second season. The third episode has also given us the best line of dialogue so far, and because creating these shows is such an exciting process, the audience was never even supposed to hear it.

Episode three, “Long, Long Time,” sees the introduction of Bill, played to perfection by Nick Offerman. Offerman, known for his turns as surly but loveable libertarian government employee Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation and booze-addled lawyer Karl Weathers in the second season of Fargo, has once again given us a fantastic and endlessly quotable line of dialogue. At one point in the episode, Bill utters, ‘not today, you new world order jackboot f***s.’ The best part is this was never supposed to be in the show.

During an episode of HBO’s The Last of Us Podcast, showrunner Craig Mazin breaks down how the line made its way to the final cut. It turns out that Mazin will help out his actors by writing down the thoughts of his characters as well as their dialogue. This is where this superb piece of dialogue first appeared, as a note on the thought process of Bill. As a survivalist who was well-prepared for things to go wrong, Bill doesn’t take kindly to the types of people who seek to lead others after society falls apart, meaning this line perfectly introduces the man and his stance on the world.

According to Mazin, it was Offerman who suggested they use the line as dialogue, stating that such a line must be “announced to the world.” Mazin instantly agreed, resulting in the best line of dialogue, and the best character introduction, in the series to date. Mazin also went on to describe how Offerman could do an exceptional job of finding the central humanity of his performance because he feels all gifted comedic actors can tap into that understanding of the world’s absurdity in order to explore it through comedy.

The Last of Us is currently streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes released every Sunday until the season finale on March 12.