VOICE actor Troy Baker has dominated the Last of Us universe for almost a decade. Baker voiced grizzly survivalist Joel Miller in the game which came out in 2013 and its sequel from 2020.
In the latest episode of HBO series The Last of Us, Baker made a cameo appearance as James, evil cult leader David’s right-hand man. Before becoming involved in the plot to kidnap Ellie, he is a Silver Lake cannibal who assists David in running the commune.
Since the airing of the episode, viewers have reacted to Baker’s participation in the show. Some enjoyed his inclusion, but others wished he had been featured more prominently.
According to an interview with Variety, when HBO’s series adaptation was announced, Baker didn’t expect to be a part of it. “If there was a role for me, then I would have been happy. But if not, I was completely content to just be an observer for this one,” he said.
Fortunately Neil Druckmann, the co-creator of the game and co-showrunner, had a part in mind for him.
Baker now talks about seeing Pascal play the role that he’s had for a decade.
“I’m a fan of him as an actor,” he explained. “He does this thing where he’s so confident in his grasp on the character that it allows him to just sit comfortably in his own conviction. He does everything on a knife’s edge. There’s nothing that’s wild.
If you watch all of his choices, they’re so minimal, and because of that, they’re profound. And it makes Joel, in a lot of ways, more dangerous.”
When discussing the changes made to the game, Baker continued: “For someone who has spent as much time with this franchise as I have, there’s something in every episode where I learned something new. What this show has proven is that it’s a much bigger story than we originally conceived.”
The final episode of The Last of Us premieres on March 12.
