The Last of Us creator explains how to change the game's Bill and Frank story

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann explained why episode 3 of the HBO series was so different from the game.

The final episode of the HBO adaptation, titled "Long, Long Time," tells the story of Bill and Frank. Unlike the game, however, which only sees players meet Bill, this episode is entirely dedicated to the couple's tragic love story. According to Druckmann - who serves as showrunner on the series alongside Craig Mazin - deciding when to stray so heavily from the game often comes down to the quality of the swerve.

“The degree of deviation [of the game] should be proportional to its quality,” said Druckmann. “Frank was mentioned [in the game] but casually. Here we kind of explore that relationship and obviously make some changes. And [the idea] was so good that I didn't mind that it was different. »

Druckmann went on to explain that in the video game, players interact more with Bill by fighting alongside him. Instead of focusing on that, Mazin suggested focusing on Bill and the life he might have had with his partner, who is not seen in the game at all.

"In the game, the way you build the relationship with Bill is fighting alongside him. There's a set piece where Joel gets hoisted into this snare trap and Ellie has to cut it. It's exciting and one of the most memorable parts of the game. I think a lesser adaptation would be like, "This action sequence has to go on the show," Druckmann explained. "While [Mazin was] like, 'No , don't focus on that, there's this interesting thing that's going on with this survivor and this partner he had. What is this story? Let's explore that. Let's flesh that out. ' So it was easy not to be precious about that when you had these really wonderful ideas that I think expanded the world and expanded those characters. "

Druckmann also noted that Bill's romantic feelings for Frank "went over a lot of people's heads" in the original game.