Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett's Partners Had Very Different Reactions to 'The Last of Us'

Nick Offerman's turn as softened survivalist Bill in The Last of Us has been hailed as one of the greatest television episodes of all time—and he has his wife to thank.

In an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday, Offerman revealed that he wasn't completely expecting the warm reception of his onscreen relationship with Murray Bartlett's Frank.

Related: New Englanders React to The Last Of Us Episode That Was Supposed to Take Place Outside of Boston

Beware of spoilers for The Last Of Us Season 1, Episode 3 ahead!

"I mean, when I got the script, Craig Mazin wrote the script, who did Chernobyl among other things. That guy seems to know what he's doing," Offerman said. "He sent me the script, and I didn't have time on the calendar to say yes to this job. And my incredible goddess of a wife read it, and she said, 'You're going to Calgary, buddy. Have fun. You've got to do this.'"

Kimmel replied, "Megan Mullally, your wife, is responsible?"

Offerman confirmed, "She's the curator. She chose every garment that I'm wearing tonight."

Related: Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally's Sweet, Silly Love Story

He said that the reception to the episode has been a "tsunami of generous plaudits."

Even Jeff Bezos tweeted that he was "in awe of [Offerman's] performance."

Offerman said he never played The Last of Us video game and hasn't played any video games in 25 years because "I think I'd be in a basement and I wouldn't even be auditioning for stuff like this."

In terms of a real-life apocalypse, he said of his iconic TV characters, "I think Bill would do the best. I think Ron Swanson would do the second best."

Meanwhile, Bartlett's partner had a reaction that took the Australian actor by surprise: He was "really affected" by the image of Bartlett being aged up with makeup as his character battles a degenerative illness over the course of 20 years.

Related: What to Know About Bill and Frank In The Last of Us Series and Video Game

“Man, they just did such an extraordinary job,” Bartlett told The Independent. “I will say, my partner who I watched the episode with was really affected by it ... He turned to me at the end and was like, ‘I don’t want you to get sick!’ So he really internalized it and obviously had trouble separating [from] the fact that he was watching me in a TV show, which I think is a good sign."

He joked, “Not a good sign about me possibly getting sick as an old man, but the integrity of the work was powerful for him.”

Next, find out what to expect (so far) from The Last of Us Season 2.