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

Contents:

• HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
• WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME?
• ‘THE LAST OF US’ CONFIRMED THAT BILL WAS GAY YEARS AGO
• WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME? RELATNSHIP WH FRANK EXPLAED
• THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE
• WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME? EXPLAED
• HBO’S ‘THE LAST OF US’ SERI WILL SHE A SPOTLIGHT ON GAY UPLE BILL AND FRANK
• GAMER EXPLAS WHY BILL AND FRANK TOTALLY WEREN’T GAY ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAME, YOU GUYS
• THE LAST OF US EPISO 3 REP: BLOOMG LOVE STORY OF A GAY UPLE, FRANK'S ILLNS AND BILL'S REMPTN
• WAS BILL GAY IN THE LAST OF US GAME? THE SURPRISG ANSWER
• Y, ELLIE HAS ALWAYS BEEN GAY ‘THE LAST OF US’
• ‘THE LAST OF US’ CREATOR REVEALS HOW HE CRAFTED THE GAY LOVE STORY THAT HAS FANS TEARS

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 most recent episo of HBO’s The Last of Us has left some fans wonrg if Bill and Frank were a gay uple the origal game. Wh such drastic chang, pecially when to Bill and Frank’s relatnship, some are left askg if Bill was really gay The Last of Us vio game. The biggt hts towards Bill beg a gay man are his relatnship to Frank and a certa magaze that Ellie steals om his stash the church basement, both of which n be missed by players not engagg optnal ntent or not payg close enough attentn.

WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME?

“Long Long Time” has sparked several plats om the worst si of Twter about how The Last of Us allegedly shoehorned a gay relatnship.

But the fact is Bill has always been gay. So yeah, Bill has always been gay.

*WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Last Of Us*The story of Bill and Frank is only briefly touched upon The Last Of Us vio game, but episo 3 of HBO’s adaptatn has dramatilly expand on their relatnship what is a notable viatn om the source enthrallg episo is filled wh tensn, joy and heartbreak as tells the pair’s story over almost two s, begng wh their first meetg after Frank fell to one of Bill’s follows is a betiful love story that has left fans wh a number of qutns, wh some askg whether Bill was gay The Last Of Us game self.

‘THE LAST OF US’ CONFIRMED THAT BILL WAS GAY YEARS AGO

TERMINAL ILLNESS: FRANK’S FATE IN THE LAST OF US SERIES IS A HUGE DEPARTURE FROM ORIGINAL GAME© HBO | Liane HentscherWas Bill gay The Last Of Us game?

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

Y, Bill is nfirmed to be gay The Last Of Us vio game.

Speakg The Last Of Us podst, Craig Maz reerated this pot, sayg: “This wasn’t a new ncept that Bill was gay, that’s the game.

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

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.

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

WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME? EXPLAED

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.

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.

HBO’S ‘THE LAST OF US’ SERI WILL SHE A SPOTLIGHT ON GAY UPLE BILL AND FRANK

Here’s everythg you need to know about if Bill was gay The Last of Us game. Full Explanatn While both Bill’s sexualy and relatnship wh Frank were never explicly stated the game, there is plenty of evince to pot towards both Bill beg gay, and him and Frank havg mataed a romantic relatnship.

On top of this, Ellie also steals a gay pornographic magaze om Bill’s locker, to joke around wh Joel. So y, n be duced that Bill was very likely to have been gay The Last of Us game, or at least have some sexual attractn to men.

That’s all you need to know about if Bill was gay The Last of Us game. Bill's Sexualy Was Always Hted at the Origal 'Last of Us' GameIs Bill gay the origal 'Last of Us' game? This is new ground for The Last of Us, but is Bill gay the game?

GAMER EXPLAS WHY BILL AND FRANK TOTALLY WEREN’T GAY ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAME, YOU GUYS

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. Through light dialogue and bs of addnal ntext you fd around Bill’s home and the neighborg abandoned town, players fd out that Bill is a gay man who was tryg to survive wh his now-ceased partner, Frank.

THE LAST OF US EPISO 3 REP: BLOOMG LOVE STORY OF A GAY UPLE, FRANK'S ILLNS AND BILL'S REMPTN

This article was origally published on our sister se, Gaymg Magaze.

Ty is Gaymg Magaze’s puty edor and ports expert. “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.

WAS BILL GAY IN THE LAST OF US GAME? THE SURPRISG ANSWER

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. Given athat female ma characters gam were a rary until que recently, the fact that one of the biggt releas of the year, The Last of Us Part II, stars a gay woman feels like a signifint moment.

Ellie is, fact, the first gay star of any blockbter game (die velopers have been ls shy about explorg queer stori) and Ellie The Last of Us Part II. We journey through much of the game wh her girliend Da (played by Shannon Woodward); we see her experience homophobia and have awkward nversatns wh the people who re about is played by Ashley Johnson – a warm, wry and ngoly shy actor who had numero creds film and TV before landg a role 2013’s The Last of Us. “Playg a lead female character a game is already pretty ol, but the fact that she’s gay is even oler, for me.

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

”Most often vio gam, if a character is gay ’s bee you chose for them to be so.

Dpe a history of gay reprentatn that go back s – gay marriage was a thg The Sims long before most real-world untri – gam rarely have much to say about what ’s like to be queer real 2013’s The Last of Us, Ellie was a supportg character: the funny, sarstic teenage foil to gff, nflicted, beardy father figure Joel, who transported her across Ameri on a post-apolyptic road trip.

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

“Whenever I’ve met fans at [nventns] there are still some people who ask: ‘Ellie’s not gay, right? “Ellie is VERY gay.

While they fall to certa gay stereotyp — a love of fer thgs, Frank’s knowledge of antiqu, Bill’s fss about his home — the quali stand as humanizg ntrasts to their tough exterrs. They “queer” what ath “The Last of Us” n be; a world where everythg ends tragedy, they create the happit endg available to anyone, gay or straight.