'The Last of Us': Who are Bill & Frank? Here's why the duo is important to Joel and Ellie's story

Joel and Ellie are heading toward Lincoln and are going to meet two of the most important characters of their story
PUBLISHED JAN 26, 2023
Nick Offerman as Bill and Murray Bartlett as Frank in 'The Last of Us' (HBO)
Nick Offerman as Bill and Murray Bartlett as Frank in 'The Last of Us' (HBO)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The second episode of HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ ended with a devastating death of a major character and made us realize that the series won’t shy away from taking the hard route. Episode 2 was all about Joel, Tess, and Ellie going through the streets of ruined Boston and finding a way to reach their destination. However, they soon realized that the journey won’t be easy and will be filled with a lot of dangers. They encountered a clicker and once again, we got to know that Ellie is actually immune to the infection.

Before her tragic death, Tess (Anna Torv) told Joel (Pedro Pascal) to continue the journey so that a cure can be founded. However, she told Joel that he should take the young girl to Bill and Frank, making him believe that the duo will take care of them. Sadly, that was the last time we saw Tess on the show as she sacrificed herself for Joel and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). The episode ended with Tess dying, along with a substantial number of the infected.

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A still from episode 2 of 'The Last of Us' (Photo by : Liane Hentscher)
A still from episode 2 of 'The Last of Us' (HBO)

Now that Joel and Ellie are continuing their journey, all eyes would be on Bill and Frank and how are they going to react when they see Joel and Ellie for the first time. So, let’s take a look at who these characters are and how important they are to the story.

Who are Bill & Frank in ‘The Last of Us’?

Bill & Frank are two of the most important characters in the video game series as well as the TV adaptation. Frank lived in Lincoln with Bill and the duo has been living together for more than two decades. When the outbreak happened, almost the entire town was wiped out because of the infection, but Bill and Frank were the only two people to survive the infection and fought against the people who got infected.

They both cared for each other and Bill always described Frank as his former partner in the game. However, their relationship turned sour as time passed by Frank grew really tired of how Bill behaved and his methods of survival. So, one day, he decided to end everything and leave Bill after stealing some of the supplies and a car battery from the high school. Soon, things turned upside down for him as he got bitten several times by a horde of infected.

A still from 'The Last of Us' (HBO)
A still from 'The Last of Us' (HBO)

It is worth noticing that it was Bill who managed to keep the duo safe and no one was able to attack them because of his planning.

How do Bill & Frank help Joel and Ellie?

In the game, we find out that Bill knew Joel and Tess since the infection started to spread. By the Summer of 2033, Bill owed Joel many favors, for unknown reasons. So, when Joel and Ellie reached there Bill was constantly made to realize that he owed favors to Joel and that he should complete them. As a result, Joel asks for a working car and even though Bill says no to it at first, Joel asserts that he wants it and Bill was ready to build him a working car so that they can get out from Lincoln.

With Episode 3 primarily focused on Bill and Frank, it will be interesting to see how the creators of the show go different from the source material and elevate the story to a whole new level.

'The Last of Us' returns to HBO with a new episode every Sunday at 9 pm EST.

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