‘The Last of Us’ creator reveals how he crafted the gay love story that has fans tears

Contents:

• THE LAST OF US PART 2 REVIEW: BURY YOUR GAYS, EMOTNALLY
• HBO’S ‘THE LAST OF US’ DIRECTOR SAYS YOU NEED TO ‘TRICK’ VIEWERS TO WATCHG A GAY LOVE STORY
• ARE BILL AND FRANK GAY THE LAST OF US? WHAT’S THEIR RELATNSHIP?
• ‘THE LAST OF US’ CREATOR REVEALS HOW HE CRAFTED THE GAY LOVE STORY THAT HAS FANS TEARS
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS
• Y, ELLIE HAS ALWAYS BEEN GAY ‘THE LAST OF US’
• THE LAST OF US EPISO 3 REVIEW BOMBED BEE GAYS EXIST
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT COACH KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY
• HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
• WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME? RELATNSHIP WH FRANK EXPLAED
• THAT ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAY LOVE STORY IS GROUNDBREAKG
• 'THE LAST OF US' STAR BELLA RAMSEY THKS 'S 'IMPORTANT' TO PICT LGBTQ LOVE A POST-APOLYPTIC WORLD: 'IT'S NOT LIKE ALL THE GAY PEOPLE GOT BLOWN UP'

THE LAST OF US PART 2 REVIEW: BURY YOUR GAYS, EMOTNALLY

While The Last of Us and Left Behd were both guilty of the bury your gays trope, Part 2 steps up by attackg the soul.

HBO’s h vio-game adaptatn seri The Last of Us took an unexpected tour to gay terrory s most recent episo, focg on a buddg romance between the characters played by actors Nick Offerman and Murry Bartlett. In a recent terview, the episo director said viewers sometim need to be tricked to watchg a gay love story.

HBO’S ‘THE LAST OF US’ DIRECTOR SAYS YOU NEED TO ‘TRICK’ VIEWERS TO WATCHG A GAY LOVE STORY

Director Peter Hoar, who is openly gay, spoke to the science-foced se Inverse about makg the show. Hoar directed the recent Brish miseri It’s a S, which followed the liv of a group of gay men at the height of the AIDS epimic. Comg to the show as ‘mor’ characters and givg a te romantic outlook on who Bill and Frank are, not only as dividuals but as a uple as well, giv a great look on a gay relatnship that don’t seem unnecsary or forced, ” Mumey shared.

Episo three has been gettg review-bombed on social media and review s by angered watchers who hold homophobic and discrimatory iologi. One er on IMDB labeled the episo as a “token reprentatn propaganda snoozeft, ” and plenty more reviews claimed the show was phg the gay agenda and rryg out LGBTQ propaganda. The fierce backlash rponse to the show sheds light on a persistent issue existg wh society: homophobia and anti-LGBTQ ials.

In a society where queer narrativ are beg more proment, is rehg to have romanc between gay upl portrayed a way that is not stereotypil or relsly thrown jt for reprentatn. It was very wholome and didn’t seem fetishized like many gay relatnships tend to be on tv.

ARE BILL AND FRANK GAY THE LAST OF US? WHAT’S THEIR RELATNSHIP?

Dpe the seri’ excellent pictn of a gay relatnship, the homophobic rpons om viewers show jt how much improvement still needs to be ma regardg the way society perceiv the LGBTQ muny. If you are wonrg whether Frank and Bill are gay the show and the 2013 Nghty Dog vio game is based on, we got you vered.

It gradually be apparent to the men that they both are gay. It is que apparent that Frank was openly gay the world before the outbreak, whereas Bill had never been wh a man before Frank. “Frank’s an out and proud gay man, but Bill is Bill, ” Peter Hoar, the director of the episo, told Variety.

‘THE LAST OF US’ CREATOR REVEALS HOW HE CRAFTED THE GAY LOVE STORY THAT HAS FANS TEARS

“Even though I’m not a middle-aged, married gay man, I’m a middle-aged, married man, ” he stated. Acrdg to crics who have seen the show, we're gettg a whole lot more of The Last of Us' gay characters than we Last of Us follows Joel and Ellie as they travel across a post-apolyptic Ameri tryg to avoid fung-fected zombi. The show is already garnerg high praise for s third episo, which lved ep to a si story wh two gay characters at s re.

Several more gay characters are sttered among the game’s st, and future episos — and seasons — will see the h characters realized live-actn for the first time. Ellie Image via Nghty Dog That’s right, the lead character The Last of Us is part of the gay muny. The character’s sexualy is hted at the Last of Us gam, and many players termed that he was gay, but players didn’t get nearly the romance the origal that HBO livered wh “Long Long Time.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

"[Their] story was ls about their homosexualy, and more about the fact that 's a middle-aged romance, " says the wrer. As happens, there are gay people, there are Black people, there are whe people, there are disabled people and there are af people.

All of those thgs happen whether you're gay or straight or anythg. The NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars strength ach, Kev Maxen, has e out as gay — makg him the first male ach a U. While Maxen is believed to be the first male ach to have e out publicly as gay, there have been a few female ach U.

Y, ELLIE HAS ALWAYS BEEN GAY ‘THE LAST OF US’

When to players, there have only been 16 the history of the NFL to e out as gay or bisexual as of September 2022, per Outsports. While on one si of the divi, has drawn the hate of homophobic ter menters review-bombg the seri bad fah, the majory have seen the story for what is, a grippg love story that happens to be between two gay men fdg each other the apolypse.

THE LAST OF US EPISO 3 REVIEW BOMBED BEE GAYS EXIST

Ne years before the episo of the same name, Left Behd revealed that Ellie is gay. Those are the qutns plagug Ellie, not the far more played out”Am I gay?

Though this storyle ends wh a ad LGBTQ+ character, don’t necsarily follow the Bury Your Gays trope. But The Last of Us Part II -wrer Halley Gross nfirmed no uncerta terms that Ellie is gay.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT COACH KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY

While Jackson, Ellie is harassed by a homophobic man for kissg her iend Da.

And yet The Last of Us was there 2014, nfirmg that one of the bt known characters gamg history was gay all along and handlg her first love as serly as this anchise handled the ath of Joel’s child. When lookg closer at the one-star ratgs, many brg up the fact that Bill is gay, dubbg the episo a "borg" romance.

Other one-star reviews are angry that a gay man met a gay man, dubbg pletely unlikely, while the same breath mentng a girl who is somehow immune to a vis that has torn down the walls of society as we know . It's fairly obv what the mon thread is across this sudn flux of negative reviews - a gay uple dared exist. Another tertg plat levied at this episo is that 's a disservice to the game, spe beg an episo that revolv entirely around buildg on clu given the game while also makg up for s pfalls reprentatn, namely fallg to the Bury Your Gays trope.

HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE

Bury Your Gays, if you're unaware, is a trope which gay upl disproportnately break apart due to ath.

It was a gay story that wasn't mired trma, but bee of the "lack of actn", apparently wasn't worth tellg. Gay people existg is polil, apparently, and so TLOU even darg to show two gay people livg their liv together is to make some grand statement, spe the show already beg heavily polil given that the US ernment turn to psdo-Nazis that fd easier to burn people alive than take re of them. Gay people exist, the ter gets mad, review bomb ensu.

Episo three of HBO's "The Last of Us" sparked homophobic backlash om some viewers. Homophobia has long been an issue the gamg muny and larger fandoms.

WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME? RELATNSHIP WH FRANK EXPLAED

The latt episo of HBO's vio-game adaptatn "The Last of Us" has been wily praised — but 's also spired fierce backlash, shg a light on what have been persistent issu the gamg muny and larger cultural fandoms: homophobia and anti-LGBTQ iology.

Joel, played by Pedro Pasl the TV seri, is charged wh rtg an immune teenage girl Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, across the US the hop of fdg a 's episo, tled "Long, Long Time, " picts a gay romance between Bill, played by Nick Offerman, and Frank, played by Murray Bartlett. "Plenty more reviews acced the episo of phg LGBT "propaganda" or a "gay agenda.

THAT ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAY LOVE STORY IS GROUNDBREAKG

"Insir even received an email om a rear rponse to s story about the episo beg review-bombed, which further exemplifi this homophobia.

"The rponse om some homophobic fans to Sunday's episo nearly a after "gamergate, " a far-right onle movement agast "progrsivism" gamg, built on racism, sexism, homophobia, and of "gamergate" uld be seen cricism agast "The Last of Us Part II, " the 2020 vio game sequel, which Ellie's sexualy is further explored. Kev Maxen, an assistant ach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, ma sports history after publicly g out as gay. Maxen’s disclosure is a historic one, makg him the first openly gay ach of a U.

'THE LAST OF US' STAR BELLA RAMSEY THKS 'S 'IMPORTANT' TO PICT LGBTQ LOVE A POST-APOLYPTIC WORLD: 'IT'S NOT LIKE ALL THE GAY PEOPLE GOT BLOWN UP'

Maxen’s announcement two years after NFL star Carl Nassib beme the league’s first active openly gay player. “I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay, ” the former Las Vegas Rairs player, 30, revealed a June 2021 Instagram vio.

Bill is gay the game, but ’s referenced so vaguely that plenty of players missed . The cisn to keep muted, hted at a sgle le of dialogue and a hidn letter, was both praised and cricized — was easy to overlook, but also avoid a lot of gay-character trop, and allowed Bill to be a human and not “a maniftatn of sexualy, ” as Polygon’s Danielle Rien put at the time. The game’s storyle don’t avoid trop altogether, though: It was cricized for “buryg s gays.