‘The Last of Us’ creator Neil Druckmann on episode 3: ‘If it’s better, we deviate.’

So, you’ve watched The Last of Us episode 3, “Long Long Time.” Yeah, we’re all a mess, especially after that ending.

The third episode of HBO’s adaptation was the biggest deviation from Naughty Dog’s game so far, giving us the beautiful love story of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett).

HBO released a behind-the scenes look at the episode and why co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann decided to expand on this storyline and these two supporting characters from the game.

“My philosophy on the show has always been, when should we deviate and when should we come back?” says Druckmann. “If it’s kind of the same or worse, we stay where the game is. If it’s better, we deviate.”

Druckmann, creator of The Last of Us and president of Naughty Dog, said it was one of the very first conversations about the episode he had with Mazin, the first physical appearance of Frank.

“We talked about using Bill because he’s on his own as a way to follow through time and see how things changed within the context of a man,” says Mazin. “We knew from the game that Bill had a partner, his partner is Frank. In the game Frank is already dead, and I thought that it was an opportunity to go a different way.”

The episode’s director, Peter Hoar, who directed the incredible (and highly emotional) British series It’s A Sin, spoke to that deeply moving last scene with Bill and Frank.

“The last scene is emotionally charged, but strangely enough, it’s also quite perfunctory. What really is important is them not being too emotional because I think it’s better to let us be emotional. We’ve lived the life with them.”