This past weekend’s episode of The Last of Us was a beautiful, heart-wrenching story about finding love amidst the apocalypse. Over the course of 76 minutes, viewers were introduced to the survivalist Bill (Nick Offerman) and his partner Frank (Murray Bartlett), two men who defied the odds and beat the cordyceps plague by living a full life into their sunset years.
Saying that “Long, Long Time” was a bold episode feels like a tremendous understatement; some of the important beats for Bill and Frank’s story were laid out in the acclaimed The Last of Us video game by Naughty Dog, but the HBO show went all in on reimagining Bill and Frank’s lives to better suit TV.
Part of the reason that “Long, Long Time” hit so hard is that we spent more than 15 years with Bill and Frank as the story skipped ahead in time, showing how they went from their first awkward meeting to dying in each other’s arms as old men. Sure, The Last of Us, just rip our hearts out and stomp all over them; it’s cool, we’ll still be back next week.
During the last segment of the story, we learn that Frank developed a debilitating disease in his old age, which is what leads him to ask Bill for help ending his life. However, the show didn’t explicitly state what was ailing him. So what was Frank sick with in The Last of Us?
What was wrong with Frank in The Last of Us?
While The Last of Us is a show that has paid close attention to the details, one plot point it didn’t spell out is exactly why Frank is in a wheelchair or what disease he is suffering from. This was very intentional on the part of the production, as showrunner Craig Mazin revealed on Episode 3 of HBO Max’s official The Last of Us Podcast.
“Well, we didn’t necessarily want to specify it for the audience, it was either [Multiple Sclerosis] or early [Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis]. But it was a degenerative neuromuscular disorder,” Mazin explained. “And, you know, this happens. It happens so commonly and yet so rarely. As people get older on screen, they tend to be fully healthy until the heart attack staggers them out of nowhere. That does happen, but for the majority of people there is a decline.”
"And we thought it was really interesting to think, ‘Look, Bill is older. Frank can literally run circles around him. He’s healthier. Bill gets shot!’ [Laughs] And then we jump ahead a number of years, and it’s Frank who’s been brought low by this disease. And there’s nothing they can do about it. But you can see how Bill is doing his best to caretake Frank the way that Frank would caretake Bill."
I’m not crying, you’re crying!
The Last of Us premieres new episodes Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels