Nick Offerman Confirmed As Replacement In The Last Of Us
Nick Offerman has been confirmed to have a part in the Last of Us. It's a surprise late addition to the cast of the highly-anticipated film
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Parks and Recreation alum Nick Offerman accidentally revealed that he would be joining The Last Of Us, HBO’s adaptation of the award-winning 2013 PlayStation and Naughty Dog video game of the same name. While talking to The Guardian, Murray Bartlett let his tongue slip that Offerman would have a role of some kind in the show, leading fans on Twitter to speculate on which character he would play. Today, it has been confirmed Nick Offerman himself would be in the series, but as a replacement for Con O’Neill.
According to a report from Deadline, Nick Offerman has joined the cast of The Last Of Us as a replacement for Con O’Neill, who left the project due to scheduling conflicts. He will play the recurring role of Bill, a survivalist who aids Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) on their way to meet the Fireflies, an organization seeking a cure for a virus that wiped out most of the human population 20 years before the events of the original game. In the game, Bill crafts weapons and traps to keep runners, stalkers, and the undead at bay.
Variety reported that Con O’Neill was previously announced for a guest-starring role for The Last Of Us, but scheduling conflicts forced him to leave. Now, Nick Offerman will be co-starring alongside Murray Bartlett as Frank, another post-apocalyptic survivalist in a relationship with Bill as they live alone in a town quarantined off from the others. In the original game, Bill was voiced by William Earl Brown.
Nick Offerman is best known on Parks and Recreation for playing Ron Swanson, the director of the Parks and Rec department of Pawnee. As a libertarian, Swanson believed in as small a government as possible. He and fellow Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler are currently co-hosting Making It. It’s an NBC competition series for which they have been nominated for two Emmy Awards for best hosts of a reality show. He has also been seen on the FX series Devs and Colin in Black & White on Netflix. Nick Offerman recently signed on to star in Pam & Tommy on Hulu and A League Of Their Own on Amazon Prime Video.
The Last Of Us was announced by HBO in March 2020, just as the world plunged into the COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2021, the series started filming in Calgary, Alberta in the country’s largest television production to date. They have an expected wrap date in June 2022. In addition to Nick Offerman, The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal and Game of Thrones‘ Bella Ramsey are set to star.
The Last of Us cast also includes Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D star Gabriel Luna as Joel’s brother Tommy, Nico Parker as Joel’s daughter Sarah, and Merle Dandridge as her video game role of Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies resistance group struggling for power against the government’s military regime. The series is a joint production of Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, Naughty Dog, The Mighty Mint, and Word Games. The first season, which has no confirmed release date, will be written by Craig Mazin and the game’s creative director and writer Neil Druckmann.
