The Last Of Us: Nick Offerman And Murray Bartlett Break Down Their Post-Apocalyptic Love Story

The latest The Last of Us episode was the first big deviation from the main story of the first game but gave viewers something much broader as a trade-off. In the game, Bill is a survivalist and doomsday prepper that turned the small town of Lincoln, Massachusetts into his booby-trapped personal shelter. When Joel and Ellie come upon him in the game, they get the use of his car and a weapon upgrade. Bill also accidentally guilts Joel over Tess' death as the second person he couldn't save from their fate.

In Episode 3, "Long Long Time", we see Bill (Nick Offerman) in a new light. Someone who did prep for the end of the world, but managed to find love in the apocalypse with a man named Frank (played by Murray Bartlett). In the game, Frank is already dead but Frank calls him his partner, so their relationship is already established. With "Long Long Time" we're treated to their decades-long love story that puts a hard focus on the human aspect of the show.

"I think Bill has really calcified himself into a life before Frank shows up," Offerman said in a new featurette. "Frank is the flowers and Bill is the soil. These two characters can nearly impossibly find one another and humanity still has the potential for Frank and Bill. And that is the love story. Even if s--- goes this sideways, and people start turning into mushrooms, we can still find cause to feel warmly towards one another."

"There's something about two people in connection in a chaotic and intense world that is incredibly moving," Bartlett added. "And I think it speaks to the possibility of that."

"Long Long Time" concentrated on how both love and survival aren't easy processes, especially in this sort of environment, showcasing the human element of the original game with the focus on fungal creatures taking second place. The episode also had a Stranger Thing-like effect for singer/songwriter Linda Rondstadt, who saw her song which the episode is named after shoot up on the Spotify charts. The episode is also the highest-rated of the season so far, which jumped up 12% from the previous episode.

HBO's The Last of Us airs Sundays at 9 ET.