Smart HBO viewers The Last of Us Episode 8 may have noticed that Troy Baker had a small role this week as James. Baker is not well known in live-action, but he is a prominent voice-over actor who is one of the rare performers to have played both Batman and the Joker. More importantly to fans of this franchise, Baker was the original voice of Joel in the The Last of Us video games. While her role on the show amounted to a guest star appearance, HBO kept Baker involved as the host of The Last of Us podcast. He also answered questions about the series in a pair of videos from HBO.
In the first video, Baker takes a moment to touch on his successor, Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel in the series.
“Selfishly, I really wanted to see what someone else would look like to play Joel,” Baker said. “It’s really a dream come true. My goal in doing the show was that whoever played Joel would teach me something I didn’t know about the character. Show me something I missed. So that’s what Pedro did. He showed me that Joel is bigger than any performance.”
Baker was particularly moved by the love story between Bill and Frank, depicted in episode 3. That relationship is one of the main topics in Baker’s second video below.
“My reaction to seeing Bill and Frank’s story on the show resulted in a lot of tears,” Baker said. “On the show, we see what that relationship looks like. One thing that I think Craig and Neil do really well is show what a long-term loving relationship looks like literally in the middle of Hell .
The Last of Us season 1 finale airs this Sunday, March 12, on HBO and HBO Max.
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