Troy Baker voiced Joel in The Last of Us games, but in the HBO series, he lost the role to Pedro Pascal — and instead played a completely different character, a member of James’ «devout» community.
In addition to working on The Last of Us, Baker has lent his voice and appearance to characters in many mainstream games (from Uncharted 4, Marvel’s Avengers, and Final Fantasy 13 to Death Stranding, Tales of Vesperia, and Bioshock Infinite), but he has no interest in reprising his roles on the big screen or streaming services.
«I am more interested in how someone new will play a role in a different environment. I like the new version rather than my repetition of the old one».
Part of the reason for Troy Baker’s attitude is that in games he is familiar with everything, whereas in TV or film versions he would have to adapt to a completely new environment.
«I love games, I understand them. But that doesn’t mean I’m not attracted to movies or television — I loved working on the HBO project. However, when I play a character in a game — I know how to do it and how to handle those resources», — says Baker, hinting that things are much more complicated on the set of the show.
The actor says that in his fictional roles, he sometimes stays alone in the studio booth and just communicates with the developer in Zoom. Whereas the set in this case resembles a beehive — with cameras and equipment worth hundreds of millions and a lot of staff.
Not all fans of The Last of Us series were happy with the choice of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay for the main roles — at the same time, the show’s creators decided to make amends by giving the actors from the game cameo roles. In addition to Baker as James, the series features Ashley Johnson, who voiced Ellie in the game, while her mother played her on the show.
As for the second season of «The Last of Us» , the filming is now complete, and the premiere date is tentatively set for the first half of 2025 (At the same time, it should be released PC version of The Last of Us 2). Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay have returned to the roles of Joel and Ellie, while newcomers include Isabela Merced (Dina), Caitlin Deaver[help text=”Of interest: Caitlin Deaver looks extremely similar to Ellie in The Last of Us games, and it was her fans who were pushing for the role when the idea of a film adaptation came up in the 2010s. The actress has also played the role of Nathan Drake’s daughter in the epilogue of Naughty Dog Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Abby), Young Masino (Jesse), and Jeffrey Wright, who will reprise the role of Isaac Dixon from the games.
HBO has also announceda new team of directorswhich has joined the second season of The Last of Us, led by Mark Milod, who worked on «The Heirs» and «Game of Thrones». Craig Mazin and Neil Druckman are still the showrunners and executive producers of the show.
As a reminder, the first season, based on the events of The Last of Us, released for PS3 in 2013, consisted of 9 episodes, which during the broadcastsconstantly breaking records in terms of views. Subsequently, «The last of us»nominated for 24 awards «Emmy» and eventually won eight trophies. The show’s renewal was announced two weeks after the last episode of the first season aired in March last year. The second season will adapt the story of The Last of Us Part 2 and follow the traumatic events at Santa Barbara Hospital, but will consist of only 7 episodes.
