The Last of Us director says he wanted to 'trick' audiences into watching the gay romance story

The Last of Us' director for episode three has revealed that he wanted to ‘trick’ audiences into watching a gay love story.

The first two episodes of the series, based on the beloved 2013 game, follow Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they stick together to survive a deathly viral infection that has run rampant across the US.

However, the third instalment, which is called 'Long Long Time' sees a slight shift in the narrative.

Instead of following Joel and Ellie, the show focuses on the romantic relationship between Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett), an unlikely couple living in an isolated town during the pandemic.

The episode three director Peter Hoar recently sat down with Inverse to discuss why he wanted to focus on a queer love story.

He said: “Sometimes you have to sort of trick the rest of the world into watching these things before they’re like, ‘Oh, my God, it was two guys. I just realized.’

“I think then they might understand that it’s all real. It’s just the same love.”

Ah yes, the old sneaking the shredded carrots into the brownie trick.

Hoar, who is gay, also spoke on Bill’s sexuality and how his characterization shatters LGBTQI+ stereotypes.

“Bill is complicated. I would definitely argue that Bill doesn’t come across as a gay man,” he said.

“It’s a little less binary than that.

"He is a man who never really discovered himself. He lived in a world of mistrust. He lived with his mother for a certain long number of years, she then died, and he had the house.

"He pulled himself away from society.

He added: “Middle-aged men falling in love, you don’t get that all the time, so I think that was nice.”

The unlikely queer romance in the post-apocalyptic series has received praise from fans.

Shortly after the episode aired, one person wrote on Twitter: “Was not prepared for the Last of Us or Nick Offerman to grab me by the throat and destroy me with one of the most beautiful gay storylines I've ever seen, but here we are.”

Another shared: “Officially nominating the 3rd episode of The Last Of Us for every queer media award possible. In a world where we see virtually nothing but awful stereotypes of gay men in our content, the depiction of Bill & Frank (and their relationship) was beautiful and expertly handled.”

While writer for the Independent Louis Chilton said the storyline ‘breaks new ground’ for ‘brittly macho conventions of genre fiction’.

He added the episode ‘managed to pull it off so brilliantly' and 'is a whole other marvel’.

The Last of Us is currently streaming on Binge, Sky Atlantic and HBO.