WARNING: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us
HBO’s The last of us has received rave reviews for its impressive loyalty to developer Naughty Dog’s epoch-making PlayStation title, but the third episode of the series marked the first major departure from Joel and Ellie’s story in the game.
“Long Long Time” focuses on Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett), two lonely survivors who come together after the global cordyceps outbreak. Both characters appear briefly in the original The game The Last of Usbut HBO’s small screen adaptation devotes an entire hour to delving deeper into their decades-long relationship.
In an interview with TechRadar ahead of the series’ release, co-showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin explained the reasoning behind their decision to go off-piste with The Last of Us Episode 3 – which the couple has previously approved (opens in new tab) will inevitably “excite” some fans.
“It came out of an interest I had in doing Bill a little differently because the Bill part of the game was very much built around gameplay,” says Mazin. “What fascinated me about Bill was that he felt certain that he had created this interesting little safe haven in the world. Then my next question was, well, what happens to you when you’re safe in this world? What now? do you just stay there alone What do you need? why do you keep going And I knew about the in-game Frank storyline, which to me kind of reflected the worst possible outcome for Joel.
“But I thought there was a chance [with episode 3] to go in a different direction and explore the period between the outbreak and where we are now and also build a relationship that has worked,” Mazin continues. “A relationship that, in its duality, helped define some themes that we will see again and again [in the show] – two very different kinds of love. Someone who loves outwardly, and nurtures and protects and creates. And someone who loves through protection through violence and preservation.
“I remember saying that to Nick [Offerman] and Murray [Bartlett] that this relationship is the basis of everything. Everything is reflected in it [relationship]. And although there is a bit of a bubble, they win in their own way. They get the happy ending.”
I think the change [in episode 3] became very indicative of what we prioritized on this show.
Neil Druckman
When adapting The Last of Us for the big screen, Druckmann – who wrote the game’s original story – also felt it was important to keep certain game-heavy moments on the cutting room floor.
“I think the change [in episode 3] became very indicative of what we prioritized on this show,” he says. “I think a minor adaptation would have looked at the Bill sequence and said, ‘Oh, there’s this epic, iconic moment where Joel steps into a noose trap and he’s on his head and Ellie has to get him out of the ditch. And then Bill shows up and Bill saves you and that’s how you bond with him through that long action sequence.’ They rely on each other, and then through in-game dialogue and a variety of different things, we reveal a clue to that backstory and that relationship.
“But there’s something of Craig’s brilliance in saying: That doesn’t matter so much. That would have been an important thing in the past when you’re adapting video games and you look at the surface aspects and you’re like, ‘Oh, the players want to see this gameplay moment.’ They don’t want that. You want the core of the heart of that experience. So when Craig said, ‘Let’s focus on Bill and Frank instead of the standards and do things that we couldn’t do in the game, like ‘gap’ – that’s a great counterexample to everything else we’re seeing [on Joel and Ellie’s journey]. This story is so beautiful and so moving.
“And finally,” concludes Druckmann, “when Joel and Ellie come back to this story — yes, it’s different than what’s in the game, but it helps level it up [the experience] in a way that I think is really strong for this medium. We couldn’t have told that story in-game. And also, I think the show would have been less if we’d tried to tell the story [of Bill and Frank] in the game over here.”
The Last of Us is streaming now on HBO Max in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.
