The Casting of Bill AND Frank for HBO’s The Last of Us Series Is Exciting

The more I learn about The Last of Us, the angrier I get that I have to wait until next year for the show to premiere. But now, there is some new casting that gives us an interesting look into the series. We know that Jeffrey Pierce (who played Tommy Miller in the game) is heading to the series as Perry, but it’s the casting of Bill and Frank that intrigues me.

According to Deadline, Murray Bartlett and Con O’Neill will play Frank and Bill, two characters from the game who should excite fans of the series! Mainly because, well, we never really got to meet Frank before.

In the game, Frank gets infected and kills himself before he can become one of the zombie-like beings they tried so hard to fight against. We’re told that he was Bill’s partner, and it’s implied that the two were in a relationship when Frank killed himself (probably) so that Bill wouldn’t have to. The fact that Frank is cast with an actor and seems to have a more concrete role? Well, that means they’re for sure giving us more of their backstory. Right?

There are a lot of characters in the game that we meet on Joel and Ellie’s journey to the Fireflies that are just brief moments between the characters. With the show, it seems as if they might explore these characters more and give us backstories that aren’t explained away in dialogue.

But more than that, I hope we get further confirmation of the relationship between Bill and Frank. The game isn’t afraid of highlighting their queer characters. It did so in Ellie’s The Last of Us: Left Behind. We saw her kiss with Riley and her exploration of her own sexuality that led to her relationship with Dina in The Last of Us: Part II. So the fact that many of us fans have always believed that Bill and Frank were in a relationship with each other means that they probably were. (I mean, Bill DID talk about his feelings for Frank quite a bit.)

It’d be nice to see their relationship for what it was before we met Bill and Joel was confronted with the knowledge that Frank killed himself to avoid getting sick, but more than that, I’m just happy that the show is giving us the chance to explore characters we met along the way. I’m particularly excited about that with Tess and Joel, as well. (We still don’t have a casting for Tess yet, and I can’t wait to see who they bring in!)

Bill and Frank deserve their time, and with Tommy (Gabriel Luna) being more involved in the shooting of the show so far, I can already see how different the show is going to be from the game, and I can’t wait to see what they bring to us.

(image: Sony)

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