“The Last of Us” series at HBO has tapped Nick Offerman to play Bill in a recasting.
Con O’Neill had previously been announced for the guest starring role, but according to an individual with knowledge of the situation, he was forced to bow out of the show due to a scheduling conflict. Offerman will appear as Bill alongside Murray Bartlett as Frank, two post-pandemic survivalists living alone in their own isolated town.
Based on the popular PlayStation video game of the same name, the HBO series takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed by a deadly fungus. Joel (Pedro Pascal), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey) out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
The cast includes Gabriel Luna as Joel’s brother Tommy, Nico Parker as Joel’s daughter Sarah, and Merle Dandridge reprises her video game role of Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies resistance group struggling for power against the government’s military regime.
Offerman is perhaps best known for his role as Ron Swanson on the NBC comedy series “Parks and Recreation,” on which he starred for seven seasons. He and his “Parks and Rec” co-star Amy Poehler currently co-host the NBC competition series “Making It,” for which they have been nominated for two Emmy Awards for best hosts of a reality competition. Offerman’s other recent TV credits include “Devs” at FX and “Colin in Black & White” at Netflix. He will next be seen in “Pam & Tommy” at Hulu and the “A League of Their Own” series at Amazon.
“Chernobyl” creator Craig Mazin will write and executive produce “The Last of Us,” along with Neil Druckmann, a writer and creative director for the video game. Carolyn Strauss, Rose Lam, Naughty Dog president Evan Wells and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan will also executive produce. Kantemir Balagov will direct the pilot, with Jasmila Žbanić and Ali Abbasi also attached to direct. The project is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television. PlayStation Productions, Word Games, and Naughty Dog. No release date has been set for the series at this time.