Why HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ changed Bill and Frank’s story

This story contains spoilers for Episode 3 of HBO’s “The Last of Us” and corresponding moments from the 2013 videogame. For “The Last of Us” co-creator and executive producer Craig Mazin, Bill and Frank were an opportunity to show that even in a series based on a video game, death doesn’t mean failure. Bill and Frank’s story is integral to the series and completely original from the Bill and Frank story told in “The Last of Us” video game. “The story of Bill and Frank and the letter that Bill leaves behind is such a huge part of why Joel decides he’s going to keep going with Ellie … Their relationship ultimately becomes kind of the skeleton key to unlock all of this show, as far as I’m concerned.” Bill and Frank’s story is far more tragic in the game. Bill and Frank getting to know each other in “The Last of Us.” For Mazin, Bill and Frank were an opportunity to show Joel and the audience that “there is a way for people to achieve a kind of peace and happiness and love in this world.” Besides being a way for the series to show time elapsing from the beginning of the pandemic to the show’s present for the first time, Bill and Frank provided the opportunity to portray “two human beings who have been in a committed relationship for a really long time,” said Mazin.