HBO’s The Last of Us expands Bill & Frank’s gay romance om the game - Polygon

Contents:

• HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
• FROM REVIEW-BOMBG TO BURYG S GAYS: THE LAST OF US AND S EPIC HISTORY OF LGBTQ REPRENTATN, EXPLAED
• THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE
• THAT ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAY LOVE STORY IS GROUNDBREAKG
• Y, ELLIE HAS ALWAYS BEEN GAY ‘THE LAST OF US’
• THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE
• HOPEFULLY, THE LAST OF US TV SERI DON’T BURY ITS GAYS

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

LGBTQ+ them are not somethg entirely new to The Last of Us anchise, as the first stallment of the seri also showsed a gay NPC and then a very graceful lbian kiss the Left Behd DLC.

FROM REVIEW-BOMBG TO BURYG S GAYS: THE LAST OF US AND S EPIC HISTORY OF LGBTQ REPRENTATN, EXPLAED

Bill is gay and had a relatnship wh a man lled Frank, who is later found ad the game, much to Bill's dismay.

THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE

Unlike Da, Bill tri to hi his homosexualy and ially only refers to Frank as someone he had red for. 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.

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

“It was geo, and I was so not expectg , ” said Darn Lowenste, 41, a vio game nsultant, who is gay.

“Obvly, I’ve played the gam religly and I know there’s gay characters there, but I was not expectg an 80-mute … tearworthy piece of art.

” Queer-themed gam date as far back as 1992’s “Gay Bla, ” acrdg to the LGBTQ media advocy group GLAAD.

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

Though Bill’s role the game is small, and his mentn of beg gay brief, did not go unnoticed by LGBTQ gamers like then, he was his early 20s and still the closet about his sexualy. ”Adaptatn giv gamers hope for more reprentatnSome queer viewers exprsed excement that Sunday's episo would expose even more people to gay vio game characters. Bill is gay the game, but ’s referenced so vaguely that plenty of players missed .

THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE

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.

HOPEFULLY, THE LAST OF US TV SERI DON’T BURY ITS GAYS

Acrdg to crics who have seen the show, we're gettg a whole lot more of The Last of Us' gay characters than we thought.The Last of Us follows Joel and Ellie as they travel across a post-apolyptic Ameri tryg to avoid fung-fected zombi. "The Last Of Us keeps buryg s gays - but that's OK, " op wrer Tom Chapman this season-wi rep. At a time when the work is known for queer shows like Euphoria and beg a memeable obssn thanks to Jennifer “The gays, they‘re tryg to murr me!

Still, The Last of Us is dog the muny proud… and the homophob hate . The Last Of Us buri s gays – but that’s OK (spoilers ahead).