The Last of Us season 1 episode 3: EP on Nick Offerman casting

As many of you are most likely aware at this point, The Last of Us season 1 episode 3 is going to introduce Nick Offerman as Bill. This is one of the people Joel and Ellie will be encountering in the upcoming story, and he has a very important role to play. This guy has the tools necessary to aid in the journey to get Ellie out west, but is he going to help? That’s a big question as much as anything.

From the outside looking in, we suppose there may also be questions about casting the Parks and Recreation actor on this show, given that he is so much more known for doing comedy.

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So why make this decision? Speaking to TV Insider, executive producer Craig Mazin notes that it actually had a lot to do with how another executive producer for TV does his business:

“Well, I remember Vince Gilligan, who is, you know, even though I’ve never taken a class with Professor Gilligan, I’m happy enough to know him, and I’ve studied his work … And one of the things that Vince Gilligan has always said is when in doubt, hire funny people–cast funny people. If you look at Breaking Bad, he’s the guy who’s saying, ‘Hey, you know what, the dad for Malcolm in the Middle, right?’ Like everyone else thinks Bryan Cranston is a funny guy. He’s like, ‘Well, what if he was Shakespearean and tragic?’

“And looking across, you know, how he casts his shows and Bob Odenkirk, funny people have soul. Funny people have a connection that I think is even stronger to what it means to be human. And being funny is harder. Honestly, it’s harder than being dramatic. If you can be really, really funny, you have the capacity to be really, really dramatic. And comic actors have shown this to us over and over and over, whether it was Robin Williams or Tom Hanks, Eddie Murphy, [or] Will Smith. We see it happen over and over.

So, clearly, all of this was a big inspiration in getting Offerman on board, and we get a feeling that he knocks it out of the park already. This is a character fans of the video games will already be familiar with, but as is often the case here, there are going to be some new wrinkles thrown in — in part because of how the actor plays him.

Bill won’t be the only newcomer you see coming up — remember that Tess also mentioned someone else by the name of Frank…

Related – Get more insight on what happened to Tess on last night’s The Last of Us

What are you most excited to see from Nick Offerman moving into The Last of Us season 1 episode 3?

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