On the surface, we acknowledge that this is a rather odd question about The Last Of Us Season 2. After all, in the first season, both Bill and Frank had a “memorable death” that left many fans crying and the various award ceremonies getting ready for their nominations for best guest actors. But given the power of flashbacks in TV and the fact that their “love story episode” was one of the best parts of Season 1, is it really that odd to wonder if Season 2 could bring them back? Even if it was for a very specific sequence?
Well, Deadline had that same question, and they asked The Last of Us Season 2 producer/showrunner Craig Mazin about it. His response was simple and succinct:
“I’m very proud of the episode we did with Bill and Frank. There won’t be more Bill and Frank.”
Now, if you recall the award ceremony season that just passed, the actor behind Bill, Nick Offerman, teased that there could be a “Bill and Frank Prequel series,” and that one had been pitched. Mazin had some words about that, too:
“Nick was joking about a prequel, that was kind of a joke. We are very happy with what we achieved.”
And to be clear, they achieved quite a bit. Episode three of Season 1 was, by and large, the biggest deviation from the game that they made by a mile. In the game, Bill is alive when Joel and Ellie come for his help. They have to rummage around Bill’s compound, which is full of infected, and that results in them finding out that Frank has died.
The original game story had Bill and Frank be a “couple of sorts,” but it ended badly due to Bill’s paranoid and rigid nature. Frank eventually got bit and killed himself so he wouldn’t turn. They even found his suicide note, which had him cursing Bill with his final words, hardly the ending of a true love story.
When the team decided to make this significant change, Naughty Dog director and the game’s creator, Neil Druckmann, knew that there would “be a cost” to this if they did it wrong. But they wanted to not only give Bill and Frank a “happy ending” compared to what the game did but showcase that there was still a chance for a “fulfilling life” within this world gone mad. They succeeded, so you can understand why Season 2 doesn’t need this duo to return.
