‘The Last of Us’: Original Joel Actor Troy Baker Wants a Redo of His Performance After Seeing Pedro Pascal’s Talent
Whether you’ve played the video games or not, you’ve probably heard the buzz surrounding The Last of Us TV series on HBO. Many people have declared it the best video game adaptation to date, in part because of the epic and accurate performances by stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. Pascal’s depiction of protagonist Joel Miller is so impressive that it had Troy Baker, who played Joel in The Last of Us games, second-guessing his original performance. Here’s what Baker said about Pascal and the TV show.
Why ‘The Last of Us’ recast Joel for the TV adaptation
Baker, an actor and musician, provided the voice and motion capture in The Last of Us (2013) and its sequel, as well as the DLC. So, why couldn’t Baker just reprise his role in HBO’s adaptation? After all, he’s 46 years old in real life, which is only a few years younger than Joel is in the series. The problem, though, is that he doesn’t quite fit the image of Joel, but Pascal does.
Neil Druckmann, who created The Last of Us at Naughty Dog in 2013, explained the recast in an interview with BuzzFeed.
“The unique thing about video games is you don’t need to look the part, which is why Ashley Johnson, when she was 27, was able to play a 14-year-old girl [Ellie]. Troy Baker at the time was this tall, skinny, bleached-hair hipster — but then when he spoke and moved, he became the role,” Druckmann said. “That’s why we couldn’t cast those same people into these roles for the show, but they were instrumental in bringing those characters to life.”
Troy Baker raved about Pedro Pascal’s Joel in ‘The Last of Us’
Thankfully, Troy Baker had no issue with passing the torch to another actor for The Last of Us TV show. He even revealed in a Q&A video (seen above) that he was excited to see what someone else would bring to the role of Joel.
“My goal with doing the show was that whoever played Joel would teach me something that I didn’t know about the character. Show me something that I missed. That’s what Pedro does. He shows me that Joel is bigger than any one performance,” Baker said.
Apparently, Pascal has taught Baker so much about Joel that Baker wants a do-over of his own Joel performance.
“I am inspired by Pedro’s performance as Joel. I wish that I could go back and do some things different,” he said on Alanah Pearce’s Play, Watch, Listen podcast.
Is Troy Baker in ‘The Last of Us’ on HBO?
Baker won’t be completely missing from The Last of Us adaptation. While he doesn’t play Joel, he takes on a different role as James, a member of a cannibalistic group of survivors. (James was voiced and motion captured by Reuben Langdon in the game.) Baker joins Ashley Johnson, the original actor for Ellie, in playing a different character.
In addition to acting in the show, Baker hosts The Last of Us companion podcast, where he goes behind the scenes of each episode of the HBO show with co-creators Druckmann and Craig Mazin.
New episodes of The Last of Us air every Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max. Check out the full release schedule for more details.
