Nick Offerman is an actor and comedian most famous for his role on the sitcom Parks and Recreation, wherein he plays the absurdly manly caricature of All-American excess, Ron Swanson.
Offerman’s casting for the role of Bill in the upcoming HBO TV adaptation of the game was confirmed after the original actor for the role (Con O’Neil from Chernobyl) had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts, according to Variety.
Furthermore, the role of Frank (Bill’s partner in The Last of Us) has been confirmed to be played by Murray Bartlett from the hit show Chernobyl. They will be “two post-pandemic survivalists living alone in their own isolated town”, which is an interesting creative choice considering we never “meet” Frank in The Last of Us game (on account of him being dead and all that jazz). So keeping Frank alive pleases me because it gives the impression the show will be adapting a similar story while also not being afraid to change things to give a distinct identity from the games.
Casting Details:
Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones) and Bella Ramsey (Hilda, Holmes & Watson… and also Game of Thrones) are confirmed to be playing The Last of Us protagonists Joel and Ellie. Click here for our past article going over the first images from the upcoming HBO adaptation.
Nico Parker from the new Dumbo will be playing Joel’s daughter Sarah. I’ll take this moment to say that the “I sell hardcore drugs” joke put me on my ass in the game, so fingers crossed some version of that makes it into the show. Gabriel Luna, of Agents of Shield fame, is also set to play Joel’s brother Tommy.
The Last of Us TV show will be the first foray from PlayStation Productions into live action entertainment, owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Considering both a starring actor and one of the lead writers for Chernobyl (Craig Mazin) will be working on the show, I’ll use this moment to recommend checking out Philosophy Tube’s analysis video on HBO’s Chernobyl, where (pre-out) Abby Thorn analyses the ethics and philosophy of personal responsibility.
Have a butcher’s here if you want to give The Last of Us Part 2 a try. Sign up to our newsletter for a discount!
Neil Druckmann, the lead writer for the first game (and co-president of Naughty Dog), will also be co-writer and executive-producer for the upcoming TV show adaptation, so this could either go absolutely brilliantly or absolutely not. Take it from me, us creatives have a lot of variation when it comes to how we go about tinkering with our “darlings”, to borrow a phrase from William Faulkner.
Shooting for The Last of Us TV show started in July, with plans to wrap up around mid-2022, expected to be largely following the plot of the first game.
Sony also announced plans for a 2022 January release for the PS5 version of the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, though I’ve covered controversies with what features it will remove right here! If you want to try out Uncharted: Lost Legacy for yourself, click here.
Sign up for our newsletter from the website.
Instagram: Go2GamesShop
Twitter: Go2Games
Youtube: Go2Games.com
Facebook: Go2Games.com
Store: Go2Games.com
