‘The Last Of Us’ EP Craig Mazin Rules Out Bill & Frank Return

Nellie Andreeva
·2-min read

While The Last Of Us‘ main focus is Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) journey through post-apocalyptic America, the characters they meet along the way leave a major impression as evident by the seven Guest Actor/Actress In a Drama series Emmy nominations for the video game adaptation and wins in both fields for Nick Offerman and Storm Reid.

The love story of Bill and Frank, played by Offerman and fellow Emmy nominee (and winner for The White Lotus) Murray Bartlett, in particular struck such a chord with fans that they had been hoping for the duo to appear again on the show, created and executive produced by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, in flashbacks.

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Offerman mused at the possibilities in a joking way following his Emmy win at the Creative Emmys.

“It certainly has been pitched,” he said. “I think we pitched a whole mini-series of a prequel of their lives before they met each other. It could be a musical. We’re not short on ideas. We’ll just we’ll see what Craig and Neil come up with.”

At the HBO post-Emmy party Monday night held exactly a year to the day after The Last Of Us premiered on HBO Jan. 15, 2023, Mazin was far less ambivalent about the idea, shutting down any possibility for more of Bill and Frank’s story or their lives before the outbreak.

“I’m very proud of the episode we did with Bill and Frank,” Mazin, who also wrote that episode, told Deadline. “There won’t be more Bill and Frank.”

As for Offerman’s comments, “Nick was joking about a prequel, that was kind of a joke,” Mazin said. “We are very happy with what we achieved.”

Mazin also confirmed that Pascal’s shoulder injury, which led to him wearing a sling to award shows over the last couple of weeks, won’t impact his ability to report back to work early next month when the cast reconvenes to begin production on Season 2.

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