The Last of Us stars Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett on ‘beautiful representation’ Bill and Frank’s romance brings in episode 3-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro

‘We had a wonderful script about a love story between two people’ (Picture: HBO/Sky)

Warning: spoilers ahead for The Last of Us episode 3.

Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett have opened up about the heart-wrenching love story told between their characters Bill and Frank in The Last of Us and the representation that their relationship symbolises.

In episode 3 of the post-apocalyptic TV series, based on the video game franchise of the same name, viewers are introduced to Bill (Nick) and Frank (Murray), a couple who have befriended Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Tess (Anna Torv) by contacting them over the radio.

Bill and Frank’s story spans several years, beginning with survivalist Bill discovering Frank in a hole that he’d created as a trap in the ground when the fungal outbreak hit the world, leading up to them in old age, dying in their arms.

During a recent conversation with Metro.co.uk and other media, the actors addressed the ‘responsibility’ of taking on the tale, with Murray, 51, stressing that it was of the utmost importance to highlight the ‘beautiful connection’ that they shared as people.

‘You read stories or you read scripts and there are so many things that you take into account, including something like diversity and representation and the importance and the responsibility of that,’ The White Lotus actor said.

Bill is a hardened lone wolf when viewers first meet him (Picture: HBO/Sky)

‘I think one of the best things to do while honouring that, is sort of put that out of your head – and fortunately in this case, we had this wonderful script about a love story between these two people.

‘You just focus on that, regardless of all that stuff, because I think that that’s what makes representation and inclusivity and diversity – it’s just connection between people. That was just in the script. There’s this beautiful connection between these two people. I hope it has a sort of a universal kind of resonance that is memorable.’

Nick, 52, chimed in to say that one of the aspects of The Last of Us that he ‘loved’ was that he hadn’t felt as though he’d seen many other examples of couples like Bill and Frank.

‘I haven’t seen a lot of television but in popular culture, I haven’t really seen this couple represented,’ the Parks and Recreation star said.

While Bill is Frank’s protector, Frank is able to reciprocate by saving his partner’s life (Picture: HBO/Sky)

‘It really goes a long way toward espousing the permission to all of us that if there’s another human being you should be allowed to love one another, regardless of how you fit in conventional couple templates.

‘I love that, I love the narrative possibility that these two guys run into each other and you’re like, “Oh, that’s such a wonderful surprise. I did not see this turning into ‘let’s fall in love.’”’

Nick explained that he grew up ‘in a small conservative town in the Midwest’ of America, which is why he was ‘drawn to work in theatre, and then film and TV’.

‘In my town, I don’t think… they wouldn’t allow the story to be told if they could vote,’ he stated.

Nick feels ‘grateful’ that they strove to ‘tread new ground’ with Bill and Frank’s story (Picture: HBO/Sky)

‘And the Bills and Franks are like, “But we live in this town, county, state, country, world.” I’m just very grateful that we’re not just part of the same old storytelling, but trying to tread new ground.’

Murray added that ‘one of the beautiful things’ that he found about the script was that Bill and Frank’s meeting and the development of their unbreakable bond ‘feels unexpected’.

‘These characters feel so far away from any kind of stereotypes, which is always a good thing. I think that it’s just these two people, possibly unlikely people, that find this connection in a way that speaks to how you can find connection in unlikely ways,’ he shared.

‘That connection comes in all sorts of different forms and all different sorts of different ways between all sorts of different people. It felt really beautifully representative of that.’

The Last of Us is available to watch on Sky and NOW, with new episodes released on Mondays.

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