The Last of Us’s gay love story breaks new ground for an entire genre

Contents:

• HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
• THAT ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAY LOVE STORY IS GROUNDBREAKG
• THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE
• THE LAST OF US SHOCKS VIEWERS WH GAY LOVE STORY
• IS NICK OFFERMAN GAY? HIS LAST OF US ROLE EXPLAED
• WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME?
• THE LAST OF US TELLS A HNTGLY BETIFUL STORY OF GAY SURVIVAL S THIRD EPISO
• THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE
• TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ALIGHT AFTER THE ACTOR SAID PLAYG THE ROLE ‘BROKE HIM’
• THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE

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

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. Bartlett, an openly gay actor whose most famo rol have been as gay characters The Whe Lot, Wele to Chippendal and Lookg, is a well-chosen scene partner.

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

There’s a good chance Bartlett will be playg a gay character: the ia that Offerman’s character might be too blossoms as litely as the pair’s relatnship.

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

As the gam have been adapted for the screen, there has not exactly been a wealth of gay characters to choose mak Bill’s barely-mentned relatnship The Last of Us somethg of an outlier. Gay storyl on TV, while not ubiquo, are not unheard of. After wng turns Lookg, Tal of the Cy and The Whe Lot, he’s fast beg one of the medium’s most proment gay the episo nears s end, and Frank be curably sick, the uple’s last scen together are profoundly movg.

The episo is, among other thgs, a subversn of the much-cricised “bury your gays” trope. Here, y, are two gay characters who die. You may be able to fd the same ntent another format, or you may be able to fd more rmatn, at their web of you reprentativ om the Miserable Onle League is gonna start somethg about Nick Offerman playg someone gay and I want to remd you he is married to Megan Mullally which qualifi as a gay marriage— nolan (@anxluxe) January 30, 2023Philip Ellis is News Edor at Men's Health, verg fns, pop culture, sex and relatnships, and LGBTQ+ issu.

Some er reviews on Metacric clud homophobic ments.

THE LAST OF US SHOCKS VIEWERS WH GAY LOVE STORY

HBO's latt episo of "The Last of Us, " s new vio-game adaptatn, aired Sunday to wispread praise and imprsive the episo, tled "Long, Long Time, " is seemgly gettg review-bombed by angry, homophobic fans of the the review aggregator Metacric, the episo has a er ratg of 4. 9, the past, review-bombg — or when people liberately give a show or movie a low ratg to crease s sre on s like Metacric and Rotten Tomato — has typilly occurred for racist, sexist, or homophobic reasons.

IS NICK OFFERMAN GAY? HIS LAST OF US ROLE EXPLAED

Lookg through the er reviews, 's clear that some of the game's fans didn't like the episo's central love story between Bill, played by Nick Offerman, and Frank, played by Murray the game, 's evint that Bill is gay and had a relatnship wh Frank, who never appears HBO seri tak their relatnship a different directn: In a flashback, Frank across Bill's hoe after beg the lone survivor of a group travelg to the Boston quarante zone. In other words, they’re a perfect gay uple, a “normal” gay uple, a world which the mere thought of takg re of someone else is somethg of a ath sentence.

Some might fd the pivot tone and narrative to be rehg, and the seri has already been praised by crics for liverg a gay love story, but the tonal shift om bter loss to lovg oasis feels disgenuo. Watchg the episo, feels as though the wrg beme stuck 2003, which is when the fungal panmic hs the show, rultg the kd of gay love story that would have been groundbreakg TV back then, but is now jt wearisome. To settle for a narrative this bland and dated, one termed to wrg tears while both metaphorilly and lerally buryg s gays — bee, y, strippg them of any narrative purpose is a thematic burial before their actual on-screen aths, is flat-out mortifyg, particularly a world where more and more nuanced and plited queer characters e to life every day.

The most recent episo of The Last of Us brought viewers to tears wh an unexpected gay love story.

WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME?

Followg the episo’s airg, many took to Twter to exprs their tearful adoratn for the handlg of gay love. Image beg smug thkg you know everythg that’s gog to happen on The Last of Us show already bc you played the game and then they show you a gay versn of Up— ًًً (@dunwaIl) January 30, 2023. They shared: “image beg smug thkg you know everythg that’s gog to happen on The Last of Us show already bc you played the game and then they show you a gay versn of Up.

THE LAST OF US TELLS A HNTGLY BETIFUL STORY OF GAY SURVIVAL S THIRD EPISO

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

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

“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. 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's Sexualy Was Always Hted at the Origal 'Last of Us' GameIs Bill gay the origal 'Last of Us' game?

TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ALIGHT AFTER THE ACTOR SAID PLAYG THE ROLE ‘BROKE HIM’

This is new ground for The Last of Us, but is Bill gay the game?

Bill is visibly troubled by his ath, revealg to Joel that Frank had lived wh him before leavg on poor isn't explicly stated, Bill is heavily implied to be gay this scene. In a 2014 terview wh Gay Gamer, Neil revealed that Bill's sexualy was somethg that he wanted to rporate more openly the game but that the fal product left ambiguo. After Joel and Ellie take off one of Bill's tcks, Ellie mmag through the back seat and disvers an old adult men's magaze that likely belonged to Bill's sexualy is ultimately never nfirmed the game, his gay romance wh Frank is explored fully the show, where the two of them share their own love story that is pletely origal to the seri.

The actor’s role as Bill HBO’s The Last of Us adaptatn is part of a larger discsn that rais the qutn as to whether Nick Offerman is gay. Nick Offerman Is Not Gay, But He Believ Strongly In Reprentatn.

THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE

While The Last of Us’ Bill is gay, Nick Offerman himself is not, and is married to Megan Mullally. When I read scripts, if there’s any kd of humor that’s misogynistic or homophobic or racist, that is jt a red flag.

While Nick Offerman do not share beg gay wh the character of Bill, as progrs has been ma society and queer characters are ls likely to be offensive ritur than once was and the LGBTQ+ muny is much more likely to get to reprent self today.