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
• HBO’S ‘THE LAST OF US’ DIRECTOR SAYS YOU NEED TO ‘TRICK’ VIEWERS TO WATCHG A GAY LOVE STORY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• ARE BILL AND FRANK GAY THE LAST OF US? WHAT’S THEIR RELATNSHIP?
• THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE
• 'THE LAST OF US' DIRECTOR WANTED TO 'TRICK' AUDIENC INTO WATCHG GAY LOVE STORY
• WHY THE GAY ROMANCE “THE LAST OF US” MEANS SO MUCH
• THE LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY
• THAT ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAY LOVE STORY IS GROUNDBREAKG
• WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME?

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.

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

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.

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

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. 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.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

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.

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

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. 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 NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars strength ach, Kev Maxen, has e out as gay — makg him the first male ach a U.

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

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. 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.

'THE LAST OF US' DIRECTOR WANTED TO 'TRICK' AUDIENC INTO WATCHG GAY LOVE STORY

Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual. Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021.

Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

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.

WHY THE GAY ROMANCE “THE LAST OF US” MEANS SO MUCH

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.

“Even though I’m not a middle-aged, married gay man, I’m a middle-aged, married man, ” he stated. 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 LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY

The episo is, among other thgs, a subversn of the much-cricised “bury your gays” trope. Here, y, are two gay characters who die. The director behd the groundbreakg third episo of "The Last of Us" has said that he wanted to "trick" his dience to watchg a gay love story.

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

The episo, directed by Peter Hoar, who is gay and is known for his work on the Brish LGBT+ miseri, "It's a S, " was tend to show viewers that love has no boundari. I would fely argue that Bill don't e across as a gay man, " he said.

In fact, this new take on The Last of Us is already gettg a b uy wh another gay love story, one that marks a huge improvement over the gam.

Anyone would feel the same that moment, but the specific pa they’re feelg is magnified even more bee they’re two olr gay men who felt isolated even before the apolypse me along. There’s so much tenrns this moment still, somethg we rarely see any pictn of gay sex onscreen, let alone between two middle-aged men such big, mastream fare.

WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME?

What we got stead was a psule episo, and a particularly bracg one, given the show’s opprsively bleak mood th far: The hour is dited to the love story of Bill and Frank, a gay uple who—due ially to Bill’s skills as a bunker-stockg, booby-trappg, Don’t Tread on Me survivalist—manage to build a largely happy existence together an abandoned and eventually fortified ral hamlet for almost 20 years. Wh Bill and Frank, we were given a portra of love—specifilly gay love—that feels surprisg and urgent.

In our own 2023, we are not exactly lackg for media imag of whe gay men.