Nick Offerman has a message for the “homophobic” haters who slammed his landmark The Last of Us episode.
“Thank you so much. I’m astonished to be in this category, which is bananas,” Offerman, 53, said while accepting the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series on Sunday, February 25. “Thanks to HBO for having the guts to participate in this storytelling tradition that is truly independent.”
He continued: “Stories with guts that when homophobic hate comes my way and says, ‘Why did you have to make it a gay story?’ We say, ‘Because you ask questions like that.’ It’s not a gay story, it’s a love story, you a–hole!”
Offerman played the role of survivalist Bill on The Last of Us season 1, which premiered in January 2023. (Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey also star as Joel and Ellie, respectively.)
During the third episode, “Long, Long Time,” fans watched Bill and Frank’s (Murray Bartlett) love story unfold on screen. Joel and Ellie’s trek across America is the main focus of The Last of Us, but Offerman’s episode offered a flashback of how Bill and Frank met and became allies as the deadly cordyceps virus raged across the world.
The characters of Bill and Frank were briefly mentioned in The Last of Us video game, which the show is based on, but HBO offered a more intimate look at their relationship. The romance surprised some players of the original game.
Showrunner Craig Mazin explained his decision to “go deeper” with Bill and Frank’s story during a January 2023 interview with The Washington Post. Mazin, 52, felt it was an unexpected twist since Bill is portrayed as a “cranky, very straight-acting, annoying guy.”
“As much as I loved playing it, I thought maybe we would do something wildly different,” he told the newspaper, referencing Bill and Frank’s (spoiler alert) deaths. “There was this tragedy to the way it ended. And I thought, ‘Well, what if we actually go really deep into that? And it doesn’t necessarily have to end the same way as it ended in the game. It can end quite differently.’”
While Bill and Frank’s episode has received widespread praise from The Last of Us viewers, some dedicated game players were less enthused.
“I was kinda fascinated by how openly people will express hate and brand themselves as bigots. I kept thinking: ‘We can see you!’” Offerman told a U.K. publication in June 2023.
He previously shut down a social media troll in February 2023 who claimed the episode had “ruined” the show.
“Buddy, your brand of ignorance and hate is exactly why we make stories like this. ❤️🕺🏻,” Offerman wrote at the time.
The Last of Us is currently in production on season 2.
