The Last Of Us director jokes he tricked audiences into watching gay romance

Bar a scattering of sophistic naysayers, the latest episode of The Last of Us has been received with almost unanimous praise for its wonderful portrayal of love persisting in a doomed world. For players of the game, the exploration of Bill and Frank's story was totally novel to them as their relationship is not shown in the most positive of lights.

This news story contains spoilers for 'Long, Long Time.'

However, 'Long, Long Time' gave us 74 heart-shattering minutes on the development of their romance over the course of two decades. Bill discovers Frank stuck at the bottom of one of his pitfall traps and begrudgingly offers him clean water, a home-cooked meal and fresh clothes before wishing him the best of luck on his journey to the Quarantine Zone. Obviously, things don't pan out that way, and the two fall head over heels in love. In an interview with Inverse, director Peter Hoar shed a little light on the significance of Bill and Frank to the wider gay community, as well as joking that the story would have been a surprise to some The Last of Us viewers.

Check out the trailer for what lies in store for the rest of HBO's The Last of Us:

"It's not as complicated perhaps as it sounds," said Hoar about the task of taking this story from the script to the small screen. "It's about heart and love and truth. They are kind and gentle to each other. Middle-aged men falling in love, you don't get that all the time, so I think that was nice.

"Sometimes you have to sort of trick the rest of the world into watching these things before they're like, 'Oh, my God, it was two guys. I just realized.' I think then they might understand that it's all real. It's just the same love," continued the director. Hoar himself is gay and talked about the importance of variance within LGBTQ storylines, having worked on It's a Sin which is a show about young men in the midst of the AIDS crisis in the UK.

"I would love to do it again if my schedule allows. I don't know when they're going to start, maybe it's tomorrow," he replied when asked if he would be happy to return to The Last of Us for its second season. Based on the raucous response to the third episode, a lot of people would give their right arm for Hoar to reprise his excellent work bringing to life the tumultuous events of Part II.

• The Last of Us Season 3 First Look Has Us Feeling Hopeful
• The Last of Us Part 3 Teased In Official Update At Long Last
• Intergalactic Adds Another Last Of Us Star To Its Cast
• Cancelled Last Of Us Game Returns In Last Way You'd Expect