For those of you who are unaware, The Last Of Us has been very faithful to PlayStation as this is where this new television show came from. This new show has left people in shambles, by being three episodes in.

“When we got to this part in the season, Craig brought up an interesting point which is… there’s a lot of examples of things not turning out well for people, and often those are reflections and cautionary tales for Joel…. It was, what if we show them what you could stand to win instead of losing?” says Neil Druckmann Naughty Dog Co-President. 

In the game, Bill helps Joel and Ellie find a truck they can use to head west. Bitter and foul-mouthed, he’s the lone person left in a town called Lincoln, surrounded by infected and his home-made booby traps. He lectures the pair on how caring about others is a sure-fire way to get yourself killed, mentioning a close partner he tried to take care of in the past. Later on that partner is revealed to have hanged himself after becoming infected, writing in a note that it was ultimately still better than remaining with Bill.

Although in the show, Bill is already gone by the time Joel and Ellie arrive in Lincoln. And viewers get to see how Frank, first meets Bill, as well as bits and pieces of the 20-year relationship that followed. Frank eventually becomes debilitated by a terminal illness and Bill helps them both take their own lives together. When Joel and Ellie arrive, they find a letter from Bill talking about how protecting Frank after the outbreak was precisely what had made his life worth living, a complete reversal from what happens in the game. The change was apparently Mazin’s idea, though Druckmann warmed up to it when they did the math on how it would help support the rest of the story leaving it more in a happy ending.

For more information, The Last Of US TV Show Creators Explain Massive Change From The Game was originally published on KotaKu by Ethan Gach