The Last of Us' Nick Offerman nearly turned down playing Bill on the show

The Last of Us' Nick Offerman says that if it hadn't been for his wife reading the TV show's script, he might have never have brought Bill to life for us in the HBO show.

In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, The Last of Us episode 3 star Offerman admitted that whilst he'd originally thought he didn't have time to commit to the project, his wife, Megan Mullally, insisted that he "had to do this".

"Craig Mazin wrote the script [...] and that guy seems to know what he's doing," Offerman explained (thanks, People). "He sent me the script, and I didn't have time on the calendar to say yes to this job, and my incredible goddess of a wife read it, and she said: 'You're going to Calgary, buddy! Have fun - you have to do this'."

When asked to clarify if she really was responsible for him taking the now iconic role, Offerman said: "She's the curator, yeah!"

As Amy recently summarized for us, The Last of Us episode 3 is the first episode in the HBO adaptation's run so far that deviates significantly from the source material. That said, neither Offerman nor his co-star, Murray Barlett, were fazed by the big changes or feared a backlash.

Would you love a spin-off series that explores Bill and Frank's love story in more detail? You're not the only one.

"You're goddamn right we can imagine a spin-off. We've done nothing but pleasure ourselves to visions of a spin-off, prequels, epilogues, you name it," Offerman teased. 

"We start a family, there's multiverse quantum physics timelines. You name it. Well, yeah, I mean, it would be wonderful to see a lot of the stuff fleshed out, a lot of the dynamics that we skipped across because we cover 20-something years. Yeah, I'd say five 10-episode seasons should probably cover it..." the actor joked.

For more on all things The Last of Us, check out our guide to the major Last of Us episode 3 changes from the games, Murray Bartlett's breakdown of Frank's untold backstory, and the showrunners' chat on episode 3's final shot, which should be familiar to those of us who've played the game.

The Last of Us continues on Sunday, February 5 on HBO and HBO Max in the US, and Sky Atlantic and NOW TV the following day in the UK. Make sure you never miss an episode by checking out our The Last of Us release schedule and our breakdown of how many episodes are in The Last of Us.

If you've been affected by the themes of the episode, please call Samaritans UK for confidential support on 116 123.