Original ‘The Last of Us’ star thought he’d end up being cast as a Clicker

Warning: Spoilers for The Last of Us to follow.

We’re in the home stretch of the first season of The Last of Us now, with the penultimate episode having come and gone in all its riveting – if disturbing – glory. Indeed, it won’t be easy to say farewell to this masterclass of a show come next week, but it will probably be helpful for our heart health nevertheless.

Yesterday’s installment also marked the return of a very special member of the Last of Us family in the form of Troy Baker, the talent behind Joel in the games. Many of us may see Pedro Pascal as the quintessential Joel by now, but there was almost a certain necessity in getting the original involved in at least some capacity.

However, the actor was surprised to learn just how prominent of a television role he ended up having. In an interview with Deadline, Baker recalled an early conversation with showrunner Neil Druckmann, revealing that he would have been on board with an appearance even if he was just an Infected.

“It wasn’t even that. Neil was coy about this potential role. He was like, “So, there’s a character that we have in mind for you, if you’re interested. If you don’t feel interested, it’s totally fine.” And I’m like, “Dude, if there’s anything for me….” Look, I thought I was going to be a clicker. So, this is an upgrade. I was so happy. And then, when reading the script for James, I was like, “OK, there’s a good challenge.””

Baker would go on to portray James, a member of a nearby group of settlers and the assistant to the woefully heinous David, in the series; a marked step up from an Infected as far as dramatic turns go. We may have found ourselves cheering against Baker this time around, but his inclusion was nevertheless one of the more important Easter Eggs we’ll see in our lifetime.