The Last of Us creator Craig Mazin denies rumors of one potential spinoff for the show. The Last of Us season 1 wowed audiences last year, collecting praise and taking home eight awards at the Creative Arts Emmys. The Last of Us season 2 has since been confirmed, with a growing list of new cast members, but its release date has yet to be announced.
Speaking with Deadline at the post-Emmy party, Mazin rules out a proposed The Last of Us spinoff. The creator was asked whether it would be possible for Bill and Frank to return to The Last of Us. Mazin assured that he and the team “are very happy with what they achieved” and that “there won’t be more Bill and Frank.” Check out the full quote from Mazin below:
I’m very proud of the episode we did with Bill and Frank. There won’t be more Bill and Frank.
Nick was joking about a prequel, that was kind of a joke. We are very happy with what we achieved.
Why This Is The Right Decision for Bill and Frank
All of Bill and Frank’s effervescent love story — the shared song, the gourmet home-cooked meals, the strawberry giggles — is forlornly beautiful because it is fleeting.
Bill (played by Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) appear in The Last of Us season 1, episode 3, “Long, Long Time.” Despite being review bombed by some homophobic detractors, “Long, Long Time” is considered one of the best episodes in the first season of The Last of Us. The episode earned Offerman an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
Both Bill and Frank are compelling characters that are impeccably rendered by Offerman and Bartlett, so it makes sense why some people would push for a prequel spinoff based on the two of them. However, the insularity of this The Last of Us episode is what makes it great. The tragedy in “Long, Long Time” arises from what is finite: time. All of Bill and Frank’s effervescent love story — the shared song, the gourmet home-cooked meals, the strawberry giggles — is forlornly beautiful because it is fleeting.
On a story level, a Bill and Frank spinoff also would not work because of the nature of the couple living in safety. As a result of Bill’s obsessive precaution, he and Frank live a life that’s threatened not by the infected, but eventually by Frank’s terminal disease. For that reason, a Bill and Frank prequel series would not be able to have the same well-balanced oscillations of peace and violence that brought The Last of Us to greatness. So, “Long, Long Time” will stay the way it is, and as it is, it will remain brilliant.
Source: Deadline
