The Last of Us actor Troy Baker on joining the HBO series and his reaction to Pedro Pascal's Joel
The Last of Us is already proving to be one of the best, if not the best, video game adaptations of all time. HBO and Craig Mazin have managed to take Neil Druckmann's emotional, apocalyptic journey about the lengths we go to protect the people we love and effortlessly transform it into something even bigger and for a much broader audience.
At the heart of the journey is Joel, the father figure to Ellie first portrayed in the games by Troy Baker and then in the HBO series by Pedro Pascal.
GamesRadar+ and Total Film recently sat down with Baker, who now plays David's right-hand man James in the HBO series, to talk turning an NPC into an important character, the show's success, and making one of the game's most dramatic scenes come to life.
Warning: Spoilers for The Last of Us episode 8 ahead!
Total Film: Can you tell me what it was like to be asked to join the show in a 'non-Joel' role? How did they pitch it to you?
Troy Baker: It was a surprise. I really wasn't anticipating it. I didn't expect it. It wasn't something where I was like, "You better find a role for me". If there was one, then great. If not, I'm happy to observe and cheer and my voice will be above the den of all those that I know will be supporting this show. And so Neil came to me and was like – I've been jokingly saying this all day – he said, "Hey man, I got a role for you." I'm like, "Oh dude, thank you."
And I thought it was looking to be like a clicker or something. And he goes, "I want you to play James." And I went, "Oh my God, thank you, man... Who's James again?" [laughs] And that's what this show is all about... we're gonna focus on Joel and Ellie – at the core of this story is about those two. This is a story about a love between a father
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