Murray Bartlett’s partner was “really affected” by his role in The Last of Us
Spoilers ahead for the third episode of The Last of Us. Murray Bartlett has revealed how his partner reacted to his performance in The Last of Us.
In the third episode of HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama, based on the best-selling game of the same name, the narrative shifts from series protagonists Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to tell the beautiful love story between Bartlett’s character Frank and paranoid survivalist Bill (Nick Offerman).
Titled ‘Long Long Time’ after the Linda Ronstadt classic, the episode follows the couple over two decades as they fall in love, protect their Lincoln home from infected people and raiders and strike a partnership with Joel and Tess (Anna Torv).
In their later years, a terminally ill Frank asks Bill to euthanise him. Offerman’s character subverts the harmful trope of equating homosexuality with tragedy, however, as he lethally doses both of their wine glasses, saying: “This isn’t the tragic suicide at the end of the play.” The episode received universal critical acclaim – with praise aimed at Bartlett and Offerman’s performances, Craig Mazin’s script and Peter Hoar’s direction – and has since been praised as one of the best episodes of television ever broadcast.
