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

The episo is, among other thgs, a subversn of the much-cricised “bury your gays” trope. Here, y, are two gay characters who die. "[Their] story was ls about their homosexualy, and more about the fact that 's a middle-aged romance, " says the wrer.

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

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. 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. 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.

THE LAST OF US PART 2 BURI ITS GAYS BEFORE RELEASE (AND MAYBE THAT’S OKAY)

The Last Of Us Part 2 Buri Its Gays Before Release (And Maybe That’s Okay). As a queer woman, yeah, I hate watchg gay people die thgs. 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.

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.

THE LAST OF US FOUGHT BACK AGAST THE PAFUL BURY YOUR GAYS TROPE. IT PAID OFF

The long-anticipated third episo of The Last of Us troduced viewers to the gay love story between Bill (played by Nick Offerman) and Frank (played by Murray Bartlett) an terview whInverse, episo three director Peter Hoar explaed how he liberately “tricked” viewers to watchg a gay love story whout necsarily makg that clear straight away. I would fely argue that Bill don’t e across as a gay man.

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

”Even though people who had played The Last of Us gam already knew of Bill’s gay love story, the TV adaptatn of the viogame seri is attractg a wir dience that isn’t necsarily aware of all the characters and storyl. If the TV adaptatn ntu to brg such high viewership numbers, there’s a very big chance that HBO will take the Game of Thron route and ntue to make seasons past the pot of havg enough source now, though, viewers are jt exced to keep watchg The Last of Us and see where this first season Last of Us airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Your Se Articl'The Last of Us' Has an Entire Episo Foced on Its Gay Characters ›'The Last of Us' Bill & Frank Episo Is One of This De's Bt ›'The Last of Us' Bill & Frank Episo Is One of This De's Bt ›'The Last of Us' Bill & Frank Episo Is One of This De's Bt ›Gay Episo of 'The Last of Us' Has an Unaired 2-Hour Director's Cut ›Here's Who Convced Nick Offerman to Play Bill 'The Last of Us' ›The LGBTQ+ Celebs Who Got Engaged 2023 (So Far) ›. While Bill and Frank’s mise is undoubtedly tragic, the nature of their ath The Last Of Us flips the script on the pervasive pop culture trope of ‘bury your gays’, which queer characters are killed off at a disproportnate rate, often needlsly btal ways.

The Last of Us took a risk on givg s gay uple a new narrative.

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.

‘THE LAST OF US’ DIRECTOR SAYS HE WANTED TO ‘TRICK’ AUDIENCE INTO WATCHG GAY LOVE STORY

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.

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. 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. 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. “The Last of Us” director Peter Hoar said he wanted to “trick” his dience to watchg a gay love story an episo of HBO Max’s new apolyptic, who is gay and is known for his work on the Brish LGBT+ miseri, “It’s a S, ” said that he wanted the viewers to see that was the “same love” as straight people, but jt between two guys, Inpennt UK reported.

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

Over the urse of 80 mut, the episo tak a gay relatnship mentned only passg the source material and turns to a s-spanng character study embodyg the show’s overarchg them of love and we first meet Bill (Nick Offerman) he’s a doomsday prepper who’s happy to watch the human race fall to piec — until a chance enunter-turned-romance wh fellow survivor Frank (Murray Bartlett) giv both men a life-alterg sense of purpose that has major ramifitns for Joel and Ellie years down the le.

But I thk ’s not jt as simple a story as him sayg, “Oh great, here’s a man, here’s a gay man, and we n have a good time together. ”I mean, I’m a gay man, I’m 53. ’s not really a queer drama per se, but ’s about a boy who jos the Mar as a gay man, and of urse at a time where was illegal.

As a rult of that, ’s about what is that mak you a gay man, a queer man, or whether you n hi . I’m very happy if people want to send me their gay terview has been nnsed and Last of Us airs Sundays on HBO the bt of what’s queer.

NICK OFFERMAN RELLS GETTG ‘A LOT OF HOMOPHOBIC HATE’ FOR GAY LOVE STORY THE LAST OF US

Nick Offerman played gay survivor Bill The Last of Us episo three. The Last of Us star Nick Offerman has relled the hateful homophobic abe that he received after playg Bill the show’s groundbreakg gay love story. Dpe crics and fans alike praisg the show’s gay love story, Offerman has relled gettg “a lot of homophobic hate” after the episo aired.

He also noted that, for years, his very own woodworkg shop Los Angel, California, has been open to clientele of every background: “People who e to my shop are straight, gay, trans, non-genr-nformg … don’t matter if you want to make a table, and why should ? How The Last of Us creat a betiful oblivn for two gay men love. The third episo of The Last of Us, “Long, Long Time, ” featur a gay love story between two characters, Nick Offerman’s doomsday prepper, Bill, and Murray Bartlett’s wanrg artist, Frank.

THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE

Stori on TV featurg queer characters are routely mishandled, givg rise to the “Bury Your Gays” trope where queer stori are plagued wh unwarranted pa and ath, so ’s rehg that The Last of Us shows don’t have to be that outbreak ed massive loss of life and stctn across the world, but for Bill, who adms a letter to Joel that at one pot he hated the world and was happy everyone died, the zombie apolypse is a eeg experience. It’s probably a safe bet that, before the apolypse, Bill chose to stay the closet bee he wanted to spare himself the judgment and discrimatn gay people face, not to mentn humane anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

The Last Of Us Part 2 Buri Its Gays Before Release

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Contents:

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

THE LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY

HBO’S THE LAST OF US GETS REVIEW BOMBED AFTER HISTORIC GAY EPISO

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