Steven Spielberg & Mark Mylod Geeked Out Over The Last Of Us' Queer Love Story

If you loved that episode of "The Last of Us" — and you know which one — you're in good company. Steven Spielberg loved it too.

During a director's roundtable featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Mark Mylod and Peter Hoar (directors from "Succession" and "The Last of Us") revealed that both productions received letters from the man whose last name is, at this point, synonymous with modern American cinematic excellence. For Hoar, his recognition from Spielberg came after the third episode of "The Last of Us'" debut season, "Long Long Time," aired, congratulating him and his team for their achievement with the touching, gorgeous episode. 

When interviewer Mikey O'Donnell said that some of the directors at the table had received letters from Spielberg, including Mylod, Hoar said that the famous director sent a missive to the production at large about Episode 3. "Well, I didn't get it directly, but [an actual Spielberg letter] came to Craig Mazin, the writer of my episode on 'The Last of Us' — the writer of all the episodes," Hoar said.

"He shared it with myself, Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett and [cinematographer] Eben Bolter," the "Long Long Time" director continued. "Basically, a whole group of middle-aged men started squealing because their idol had realized who they were. I think he probably knew who everyone else was, but he didn't know who I was. And now he's probably forgotten."

Spielberg is a fan of the episode, apparently, but Mylod also chimed in during the interview to praise Hoar's direction. "It's the most extraordinary tonal switch in a series that I think I've ever seen in my life, Peter," the "Succession" director said. "I remember watching with the rest of the country, just jaw on the floor."

Mylod — who apparently got a letter from Spielberg about directing an episode featuring a large-scale dinner party — also brought up an important point, which is that "Long Long Time" spans multiple decades, which presents an enormous challenge for any director. More specifically, the episode covers the entirety of the relationship between Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett), two men who meet in the aftermath of the cordyceps virus that devastates the world, from their meeting as Frank stumbles into Bill's trap to the end of their relationship and life together. Perhaps most impressively, this is the only episode to even feature the characters, and as Mylod points out, Hoar still helps you fully bond with the pair.

"I always think that time jumps are the enemy of connecting with the characters, aren't they?" Mylod asked. "Every time you take any kind of time jump, it's like you've got to recapture the audience." As Mylod told Hoar, the feat he pulled off in "Long Long Time" was incredibly impressive: "I've no idea how you did that."

Because people can be, to put it lightly, huge jerks, "Long Long Time" got "review-bombed" after it aired, with angry fans leaving bad ratings on both IMDb and Metacritic. (Luckily, Rotten Tomatoes doesn't allow user reviews.) While some fans masked their bad reviews by saying the episode wasn't related enough to the main characters or the cordyceps spread and the resulting Infected, it was pretty clear that a same-sex relationship on a show ostensibly focused on guns and zombies didn't go over well with certain people... despite that game creator and showrunner Neil Druckmann fully stood behind the character of Bill being gay (it's alluded to in the game but not directly addressed).

Critics, meanwhile, have pointed to "Long Long Time" as the standout episode of "The Last of Us," which is saying something, considering the entire first season was well-received — and most fans agree. It's fully expected that, with Emmy nominations on the horizon, Bartlett and Offerman will be the ones to beat in the guest actor category, with Offerman in particular receiving some of the biggest praise of his career to date. "Long Long Time" is a stunning character study of two people who, against every single odd, build a beautiful shared life from the ashes of humanity, and despite childish backlash, it's become one of the most lauded episodes of television in recent history.