Contents The Last of Us video games put queer stories front and center in the narrative, and the HBO adaptation of the same name is following their lead with its focus on a gay relationship in its third episode, Long, Long Time, which aired recently. While the relationship between Bill and Frank was certainly present in the 2013 zombie action game, it was relegated to the background as Joel and Ellie navigate the beginnings of their complicated relationship.
The LGBT+ stories of The Last of Us video games In The Last of Us Part II, we see this theme play out again and again, with Ellie and Dina and their relationship with their queerness. Chronologically, one of the first things that happens in the game is that Ellie kisses Dina, another woman, during a town-wide party, but after sharing the touching moment, the pair are interrupted by homophobic slurs from one of the town’s residents.
While things don’t always stay “happy” for the queer characters of The Last of Us Part II, the moments of love they experience, whether they’re romantic, familial, or platonic, are some of the most powerful in the series. In terms of what developer Naughty Dog is saying about bigotry and queerness, we can take away that the game studio wants players to understand that bigotry is a man-made concept that plagues society, while queerness is a natural part of the world.
Long, Long Time is definitely a tearjerker, but that’s because of the bittersweetness of watching two people live happily and choose to end their lives after having grown old and content and not have its characters suffering some terrible fate. The reason they’re able to live so freely and happily is because of their queerness and their ability to be true to their feelings.