Spoiler: “He’s Gonna Die Horrifically”- the Original Joel Actor Shares His Obsession With James’s Death Scene in ‘The Last of Us’ Episode 8

HBO Max’s hit show the Last of Us, based on Naughty Dog’s Magnum opus gaming series with the same name, is by far one of the biggest and most successful shows of the year. The show has managed to lax the ‘curse of video game adaptation’ quite a lot, giving it an inevitable place in the history of gaming. 

The one person who had a big role in making the franchise as successful as it is today, other than the creator and writers, is the original actor behind the role of Joel, Troy Baker. His phenomenal performance in the mo-cap suit of Joel laid the building blocks of the character that is still used as the base for the television counterpart. 

Troy Baker shares his Last of Us show journey as James

Although Troy was one of the main men of the games, in the show he had bagged the role of a much lesser character. Troy played the character called James, who was part of a cannibalistic group led by a teacher turned preacher, David, who, according to Baker, can ‘weaponize’ hope.

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In the episode, the female lead of the show, Ellie encounters this group and Troy, followed by a series of misfortune events that eventually end up with Troy Baker aka James in the show, getting killed by a vicious cleaver blow to the neck by none other than Ellie herself. Much like his gaming root, Troy gets to die once again on the set of The Last of Us. 

“Because he wasn’t a big character. But then I realized I was like, Oh, yeah, he’s gonna die horrifically. I love death scenes. They’re great. One of the advantages of doing a game is that if you’re the player character, you get to do multiple death scenes,” Baker said in an interview with Polygon about his character’s outcome and his obsession with it. 

Getting to play the character of James in the show was a huge deal for Troy. As he was very uncertain if he would ever get any chance to appear in the show and if he did, he had anticipated being a bystander or one of the undead monsters such as the clickers. But getting to play a vital part in the story was a dream come true for him. 

“It wasn’t something that was guaranteed and it wasn’t something that I was even necessarily seeking. It was just like, ‘If you guys feel that you have a spot for me, then I’d happily do it.’ I would be happy if I’d just been a clicker,” said Troy Baker sharing his expectations about his part in the show. 

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