Nick Offerman has revealed that he nearly turned down the role of Bill in HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us, but ended up taking the part after being told to by his wife, Megan Mullally.
The third episode of HBO's The Last of Us premiered earlier this week and, to no one's surprise considering all of the chatter surrounding it before the show even premiered, it's been very positively received. Rather than focusing on Joel and Ellie's exploration of Bill's town like in the game, it instead mostly focuses on the relationship between Bill and his partner Frank, deviating from the source material in the best way possible.
Following the massive success of the episode, Offerman appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live where, alongside revealing that he was once pretty into Banjo-Kazooie of all things, he gave a bit of background into how he got the part of Bill in the first place. Surprisingly, Offerman revealed that he was originally going to say no to being in the show due to a lack of time, but his wife Megan Mullally overruled him and told him to take it (thanks People)
After mentioning Craig Mazin and his previous work on Chornobyl, Offerman said, "I didn't have time on the calendar to say 'yes' to this job, and my incredible goddess of a wife read (the script) - and she said 'You're going to Calgary, buddy. Have fun! You have to do this". Offerman then went on to call her the "curator" and joke that she chose all of his outfits for the night.
Considering the impact of Offerman's performance, it's a good thing that Mullally read the script and pushed him to take the role, as it seems to be a highlight of the show so far. Offerman seems pretty aware of that fact too, as he told Kimmel that he's been hit with a "wonderful tsunami of plaudits" since the episode premiered, even joking that he was sent to the interview for the "17 of you who haven't seen it yet".