Murray Bartlett, who played Frank in the hit HBO zombie series ‘The Last of Us’, shares the real-life inspiration behind the gay love story between his character and Bill, played by Nick Offerman.
‘The Last of Us’, which tells the story of Joel (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler tasked with escorting the immune teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the post-apocalyptic United States, struck at the heartstrings of its viewer with its third episode, ‘Long, Long Time’. It depicted the decades-long romance between Bill and Frank.
Bartlett, who came out as gay early in his career, said that in portraying his role, he took inspiration from his real-life love story with his partner Matt.
In an interview with Deadline, Bartlett said that his relationship with Matt “was a bit of a reference point for what [Nick Offerman] and I were doing in the episode.”“Because I was saying this to Nick, that we are both lucky to be in relationships where we found a partner that we have an incredible bond with, and we feel this deep love,” he furthered. “So, we were familiar with that, and we could bring that experience to what we were doing in episode three.”
