So, you've watched The Last of Us episode 3, "Long Long Time." Yeah, we're all a mess, especially after that ending.
The third episode of HBO's adaptation was the biggest deviation from Naughty Dog's game so far, giving us the beautiful love story of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett).
HBO released a behind-the scenes look at the episode and why co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann decided to expand on this storyline and these two supporting characters from the game.
"My philosophy on the show has always been, when should we deviate and when should we come back?" says Druckmann, co-creator of The Last of Us game and co-president of Naughty Dog. "If it's kind of the same or worse, we stay where the game is. If it's better, we deviate."
Druckmann said the first physical appearance of Frank was one of the very first conversations about the episode he had with Mazin.
"We talked about using Bill because he's on his own as a way to follow through time and see how things changed within the context of a man," says Mazin. "We knew from the game that Bill had a partner, his partner is Frank. In the game, Frank is already dead, and I thought that it was an opportunity to go a different way."
The episode's director, Peter Hoar, spoke to that deeply moving last scene with Bill and Frank. (Hoar's credits include the equally excellent, deeply moving British mini-series It's A Sin. Created and written by Russell T. Davies, the series follows a group of friends growing up in London in the '80s as the AIDs crisis looms and spreads across the globe.)
"The last scene is emotionally charged, but strangely enough, it's also quite perfunctory. What really is important is them not being too emotional, because I think it's better to let us be emotional. We've lived the life with them."
How to watch: The Last of Us is now streaming on Max.
Topics HBO Streaming The Last of Us
