Note: This article contains spoilers for “The Last of Us” Episode 8.
Troy Baker made a name for himself playing Joel in “The Last of Us” video game franchise, but the actor recently told TheWrap that he almost backed out of his audition for the now-iconic 2013 action adventure Are.
“I went to an audition just like anybody else and there was a character for a new game by Naughty Dog. I was very familiar with him and I wanted it really bad and I almost walked out of the audition because I didn’t feel like that I was right for it,” he explained. “Fortunately, par for the course, Neil [Druckmann]The idea was better than mine and they chose me to be Joel for the game. and a lot of it was because of ashley [Johnson] And I just clicked from the very beginning and this story is about that. It is about the relationship between these two characters and the relationship as they move through this hellish world.
Druckmann told TheWrap that when it came to casting the HBO adaptation, he and co-creator Craig Mazin knew they wanted to find a meaningful way to include Baker and Johnson, even though Joel and Ellie’s roles Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. ,
“Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson were such an important part of bringing the story to life for both games. The first time Craig and I had a conversation about casting people, we were like, ‘Oh, they have to be somewhere. in the show and they have to be more than just an Easter egg,” Druckmann said. “We wanted to honor that they are brilliant actors, not just voice actors, and give them some meaty roles to play.”
For Baker, that role ended up being James, David’s right-hand man who Ellie meets during the winter section of the video game and is later revealed to be a cannibal.
“When they asked me to come back, [Neil] It was like, ‘I think we have a character for you. You can say no if you want. I was like, ‘I’m not gonna say no, man, if it’s a clicker that dies in frame two, I’m just gonna put up a peace sign. I am alright! I’m perfectly happy’, he recalled. “And unfortunately, again, his ideas were better than mine and it was a better character and that’s how I got to play James.”
Although James and David are typically seen as villains in the context of video games, Baker said they have a “beautiful opportunity” to allow viewers to view James through a different lens in HBO’s adaptation. And there was a challenge.
“If there’s an element of empathy that I can bring to any character, it’s the work, to me, the challenge. So to me, it’s the understanding that everyone in this world serves as a role model for Joel and Ellie.” So how does James look like either of them? And they both have a kind of resemblance,” he said. “I think before he blew up the whole world, James was a good guy. He’s probably either military or law enforcement, he’s someone who had skill with a weapon, but knew how to protect people and After all that was what he was there for.
In the HBO adaptation, David relies heavily on using hope and faith in God to lead his people.
“When you take away from people all their tangible resources like food, shelter, heat, intangibles become currency, and that’s what David is using. He understands that if you can weaponize hope, you can can lead,” Baker said.
“And so he brings in one of the classic examples that is the Bible and being able to take scripture and something that was pure and intended for good and be able to use it to control people, which We’ve systematically seen religion used for this. So what can I provide people that will keep them under my control? I will give them food – they don’t need to know what they’re eating. He’s not what they think they’re eating – and I’ll give them the truth in the form of this scripture. But he quotes Nietzsche or Marx as much as he quotes the Bible. So he’s an intellectual One who understands the idea, he understands people, how to profile and identify people and ultimately how to manipulate people.
As for James, Baker says he is much more pragmatic and “not a firm believer in some spirited pursuit.”
“He understands that it serves a purpose just like everything else does but he also recognizes that David is the devil and I would rather be the devil’s right hand than the devil’s wrong hand.” “And when Ellie comes in, because Ellie is David’s equal because he says, ‘You’re smart, you’re capable, you’re talented and your heart is violent’ and that’s something James lacks. And that’s She is the thing that is stopping him from being David’s equal. So James just wants the girl away because she represents and threatens his role with him.
David and James are killed at the hands of Ellie, which Baker says is a “foundational moment” for them to move forward on their journey.
“At the game, Joel gets there and he pulls Ellie away from David. But here in the show, she totally does it and ends up wandering off into the white woods and that’s when Joel finds her,” Baker said. “To me, it’s a beautiful thing where it’s not just that Joel finds Ellie at her most vulnerable, it’s a moment where we see Ellie rescue Joel at his most vulnerable, physically and emotionally. I think it’s a very powerful thesis that this episode makes in particular, but certainly in our final episode, we’re going to see the effect it has on Ellie.
Bella Ramsey recently revealed the trend that next week’s season finale will “divide people in a big way”, but Baker doesn’t see it that way.
“I would not say that the ending is divisive. I would say that there are people who disagree because it was never intended to be divisive, it was intended to be a true ending,” he said. I wrestled with the ending when I found out about it and I even told Neil, ‘People are going to be pissed,’ and he was like ‘Good,’ because I don’t care whether people love it or hate it. “That, I just want them to feel something. But if they’re ambivalent then we’ve failed.” And so for the last 10 years, there are people who have wrestled with that end and what we’re going to see is a whole new group of people who are now engaging in that beautiful conversation and struggling with all of us. who struggled with it for 10 years, and find out what they think about the ending.
While the cast of HBO’s adaptation was under immense pressure to live up to the game, Baker insisted that both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey delivered with their performances during the season.
“Joel is Joel, whether he’s in my shoes or Pedro’s shoes or anybody else’s shoes. It’s an understanding of who the character is and that’s what both Bela and Pedro did,” he said. “I just wanted someone to show the world that [Joel] is bigger than any one performance, and if it wasn’t, we haven’t done a job of making a character as good as it could have been. But, luckily, what Bella and Pedro have shown us week after week is that these characters are much, much bigger than any one performance.
,The Last of Us” airs Sundays at 9 PM ET Streaming on HBO and HBO Max.
