Nick Offerman Kept Using Bill's Tools To Fix Stuff On The Last Of Us Set
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If you've been paying attention to Nick Offerman at all, you know he's the kind of actor that brings a little piece of himself to every character he plays. In real life he's more progressive than, say, Ron Swanson from "Parks and Recreation" or Bill from "The Last of Us," but that stoic man's man Mr. Fix-It quality that both of those characters have does parallel Offerman in real life.
In fact, Ron Swanson's love of woodworking comes directly from Offerman's own hobby. The man has written books about woodworking and has notoriously used his talents to make wrap gifts for his co-stars, like the canoe paddles he crafted for his "Parks and Rec" cast members using the discarded materials from the actual sets. The point is, Offerman is a handy guy to have around and it should come as no surprise that he brought some of those skills to the set of "The Last of Us."
In an interview with Empire Magazine, Peter Hoar (director of Offerman's big episode) shared just how much like Bill the actor was. Here's what he said:
"Nick is Bill. There were so many times on set, he would be fixing things because all of Bill's tools were everywhere."
How absolutely wonderful is that mental image? There's, like, an hour turnaround time between camera set-ups and instead of going to his trailer to wait it out like most actors, Offerman instead just grabs some of Bill's prop tools and gets to work fixing things up around the set.
Offerman's woodwork shop played a key role in getting him cast in the popular HBO show
Beyond Offerman practically being born to play the sensitive loner "The Last of Us" needed, there's another connection his woodworking hobby has to him getting cast in "The Last of Us." Turns out, his woodshop sponsored a little league team for some years and it just so happens that "The Last of Us" writer and showrunner Craig Mazin's son was on that team.
In the very same Empire interview, Offerman is quoted as saying that for a long time, he knew Mazin as just one of his "baseball dads" until it was brought to his attention that Mazin was "the 'Chernobyl' guy."
Later on, when Mazin reached out to Offerman for the part of Bill, he almost had to pass because of scheduling conflicts. Ultimately, Offerman left the decision up to his wife, actress Megan Mullally, who all but insisted her husband prioritize "The Last of Us" after reading the script for the episode.
Originally, Bill was supposed to be played by Mazin's "Chernobyl" actor Conn O'Neill, but he had to drop out due to his "Our Flag Means Death" schedule. O'Neill is a wonderful performer and I'm sure he would have put his own unique spin on the character of Bill, but I think it's safe to say that this is a role so perfectly suited for Nick Offerman that the right guy ended up in this role.