Troy Baker

If anyone's in a position to compare The Last of Us on HBO to the original game, it's Troy Baker, who played the original Joel in the games.

We are also a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. He thinks it beats apathy, saying, of potential mixed reactions to key moments in season 2, that they’ll be “Hopefully the same. Do you disagree with the changes the show has made? Regrading Pedro Pascal’s performance in the role he originated, Baker says, “There’s a physicality that he brought to this that we couldn’t have done in the game. What this show has proven is that it’s a much bigger story than we originally conceived.” It was a bigger role than he expected, as he tells [Variety](https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/the-last-of-us-troy-baker-james-david-joel-1235541775/), “I thought I was gonna get a walk-on role.

Troy Baker, who played the role of Joel in The Last of Us and its video game sequel, has nothing but praise for Pedro Pascal, who took over the role for the ...

"People always ask, is there gonna be a Last of Us Part III? And now it's being done by a completely different person, and it's just like, what a great way to pay tribute." [The Last of Us](/category/the-last-of-us-tvshow/) and its video game sequel, has nothing but praise for Pedro Pascal, who took over the role for the smash-hit HBO series based on the franchise.

The Last of Us series finally welcomed Troy Baker, Joel from the video games. Baker shared his reflections on Ellie, Pedro Pascal, and more.

Baker notes of The Last of Us‘ new Joel, Pedro Pascal. Troy Baker, who voices Joel in The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II, finally joined the new infected world. [Variety](https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/the-last-of-us-troy-baker-james-david-joel-1235541775/), the original Joel shared a little bit about his adaptation experience. While in the games, Baker plays a character whose very core revolves around protecting his charge, Ellie. On the eighth episode of HBO Max’s The Last of Us series, the show brought in Joel from the original video games. Instead, Baker came into The Last of Us as an antagonist, James,

The Last of Us' Troy Baker opens up about playing a cannibal cultist in HBO's adaptation of the game and talks about how James and Joel are more alike than ...

Craig, his philosophy is “what are they thinking, what are they feeling, and how can I most honestly display that?” And I’ve been given writing notes from Craig, and he gave me one of the best pieces of advice that I would pass on to any writer, which is don’t be clever, just be honest. There’s a commitment to authenticity, not only to the truth that’s trying to be conveyed in each line of dialogue but also in these characters, in their performance. 1, it’s a story that is relatable because it’s a story about love. But “the game was cinematic and good, so the show was good” feels like a really reductive way to talk about why the show resonates with people— James recognizes that David’s the devil, and the last place you want to be is on the wrong side of the devil. But the episode does give you this sense of how important faith is to these people but also how fraught their relationship with faith has become in this situation for obvious reasons. But no, I wanted to hear from you why you think the show has found such a following outside of the OG fans. But when I spoke with Baker recently ahead of the air of “When We Are in Need,” he was quick to tell me that he felt a very specific kind of similarity between his takes on Joel and James — one that becomes easier to understand when you stop thinking about The Last of Us as a story with true villains. James doesn’t believe that they’re doing God’s will or that God’s protecting them or even that David is a man of God. And the problem is that Ellie immediately threatens that position. To me, he’s doing exactly what Joel does, which is to ask “how can I best look after those that I care about?” And he’s a pragmatist; he’s not a violent person. With Joel (Pedro Pascal) still wounded and in need of medical attention as “When We Are in Need” opens, it almost seems like a godsend when Ellie (Bella Ramsey) first encounters a preacher named David (Scott Shepherd) and his right-hand man James (Troy Baker) who insist that they can help keep her safe.

The Last of Us video game star Troy Baker has explained why he never wanted to play Joel in TV show after making his episode 8 debut.

[The Last of Us](https://metro.co.uk/tag/last-of-us/) episode 8. While James, Troy’s new character, does appear in the video game, he’s ‘nowhere near as visible’ than he is in the TV series, the actor said… ‘So, for me to be able to have a role like this, it became this cool challenge. [Oscar-winning actor ‘almost played Joel in The Last of Us’ instead of Pedro Pascal](https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/04/the-last-of-us-mahershala-ali-almost-played-pedro-pascals-joel-18386257/?ico=more_text_links) [Metro Football on Snapchat](https://story.snapchat.com/p/bace44d9-d6f8-4ec0-b0d2-6448cf365eab/1436206298976256). [Metro Showbiz on Snapchat](https://story.snapchat.com/p/16289297-eb61-4990-9aab-45ce173b8058/). [Pedro Pascal ](https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/04/the-last-of-us-mahershala-ali-almost-played-pedro-pascals-joel-18386257/)opposite [Bella Ramsey](https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/25/bella-ramseys-drama-teacher-reveals-advice-she-gave-star-before-fame-18337205/) as Ellie. [The Last of Us episode 8 recap: Ellie forced to fend for herself for the first time as she meets David – before horror ensues](https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/06/the-last-of-us-episode-8-recap-ellie-faces-horror-as-she-meets-david-18390544/?ico=more_text_links) [TVLine](https://tvline.com/2023/03/05/the-last-of-us-season-1-episode-8-troy-baker-interview-james/). [latest episode](https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/06/the-last-of-us-episode-8-recap-ellie-faces-horror-as-she-meets-david-18390544/) of the HBO series, he joins the cast as James, a comrade of David (Scott Shepherd), a preacher who’s harbouring a [horrifying secret](https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/06/the-last-of-us-are-there-cannibals-in-the-video-game-18391994/) with his community. [Episode 8 of The Last of Us ](https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/06/the-last-of-us-episode-8-recap-ellie-faces-horror-as-she-meets-david-18390544/)marked a moment that fans were waiting for in the TV show – the arrival of Troy Baker. [Troy portrayed Joel in the original video game](https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/19/the-last-of-us-tv-show-proves-how-bad-video-game-stories-are-18306478/), first playing the role a decade ago.

Pedro Pascal is killing it, according to Joel's original actor.

[storyline tweaks](https://ftw.usatoday.com/2023/01/the-last-of-us-changes), though Baker is still in HBO’s The Last of Us. 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. “It wasn’t something where I was like, ‘You better find a role for me.’ If there was one, then great. And what it showed me was that, thankfully, this character is bigger than any one performance.” “This character needs to be bigger than one actor. “If it had just been like, I’m the only one who could do it, then we didn’t do a good enough job,” Baker continues.

Baker talks about what makes Pascal such a great actor and a good match to play Joel in the HBO series.

She will play Anna, who is Ellie's mother, in the Season 1 finale this Sunday, March 12. "When you're stitching yourself up from bullets and shivs, you can't go, 'Ow, my hand still hurts.' But then in the show, we could say, 'I broke my hand and it's bruised,' and it stays with him for months," Baker said. "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," Baker said. He's a pragmatist." And it makes Joel, in a lot of ways, more dangerous." "He does everything on a knife's edge.

The prolific voice actor who first brought Joel to life discusses Pedro Pascal's performance, being a podcast host, and even Joker 2.

We get to unpack the story and hopefully I answer all the questions that people are asking, because they're the ones that pop up to me and I have the opportunity to sit down in front of the two creators and go, “I have a question. So the more that we can focus on that, and it's something that is threaded throughout everything, we see the love of a father to a daughter between Joel and Sarah, we see the love between brothers between Joel and Tommy, we see the love between Tess and Joel, we see the love between Bill and Frank. They've both helped me tremendously as an actor, as an artist, and as a storyteller, and so the opportunity to be able to do that has been great. But I'm also very, very happy and content to be an observer because this is one of the best stories to watch. And the thing that I've really learned about myself is I crave conversation, and I'm a connoisseur of good conversation. One of my favorite examples of this is Garret Dillahunt in Deadwood, where he got to play two characters in the same show, he plays a completely different character. The beauty is that they were able to show this is a story about love. In a game, as an actor, sometimes you get the opportunity to tell a story, or as a director, or as a musician. One of my favorite things about The Last of Us, even more than the game has been all of the conversations that have happened subsequent to it. There's so much more about Pedro that I want to know and the opportunities to interact with him are brief. That has resonated now in the script, because it was so perfect, but that's just something that she did on the fly. And so those opportunities that I get, there are so many more things that I want to ask him other than Joel.

The Last of Us star Troy Baker on his video game legacy as Joel, what Pedro Pascal brings to the role, joining the HBO series, and more.

It's better to be the right hand of the devil than on the wrong side of him," he said. The season finale of The Last of Us airs on March 12 on [HBO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0EN4S4nNnw). And to me, we're all the heroes of our own story," he said. Another difference on set was that Baker sees Pedro Pascal in his role on the HBO series as his Joel is protecting Ramsey's Ellie as opposed to acting opposite Johnson. And I've been graciously welcomed now to the table of this extended family that we now have," he recalled. The following contains spoilers for the episode " [When We Are in Need](https://bleedingcool.com/tv/the-last-of-us-season-1-ep-8-suffers-from-rushed-storyline-review/)."