How Troy Baker Transformed From Joel to James in Episode 8 of The Last of Us
The Last of Us Episode 8 broke us. By the time Ellie reunited with Joel, we were a shattered mess. If you thought David’s group of zealous cannibals were terrifying in the video game, that fear factor doubled in the show. And that was partly thanks to a very familiar face among hardcore video game fans.
Troy Baker, the OG Joel, made a shocking appearance in Episode 8, “When We Are In Need,” that blew fans away. In case you didn’t know, Troy Baker has been the face (and voice) of The Last of Us video games since 2013. For almost a decade, Baker voiced Joel in the games, but in the hit HBO show, Baker made a guest appearance as James, one of the many antagonists trying to kill Ellie off.
ALSO READ:
The Last of Us: A Complete Guide to the Post-Apocalyptic World and Lore
The Last of Us Season 2: Everything We Know So Far
Baker switched to the “dark side” in the series, and it was a change that even he wasn’t expecting. In a roundtable interview with Troy Baker, the actor revealed that he was surprised he was even approached to appear in the show. And when the series creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann talked to him about it, he expected to show up in a cameo role in an Easter Egg moment for fans. But instead, they gave him a pivotal role as James, the right-hand man to the bad guy in Episode 8.
“Man, just being there was a win,” shared Baker. But he also joked that his reaction to Druckmann offering him the part was, “Thank you!… Who is James?”
For those who’ve played the video games, James pretty much goes by “buddy boy in the hat,” a henchman of the Cannibal group trying to finish off Ellie and Joel. But the character of James got the full Troy Baker treatment when he was translated to the TV screen. As James, Troy Baker had the chance to do the character justice in a way that had never been done before.
“They really gave me a character that I could do something with and there was an emotional stake in the story,” shared Baker.
As someone who played Ellie’s biggest supporter for over a decade, it was a strange experience to suddenly fight on a side that wasn’t Ellie’s for once. But it wasn’t as basic as a good-vs-evil scenario. Baker has professed more than once that there are no good guys or bad guys in The Last of Us, and it’s that nuance that he brought to the character that transformed him into something more than just another evil video game thug.
"There was something was important to me about playing James not as this henchman… but rather as someone who was very pragmatic. He’s like, ‘[If] we bring her back, she's another mouth to feed,’ and that is the existential threat that these people are facing,” explained Baker.
“So there is this beauty that I love that how Jeffrey Pierce’s character (Perry in Episode 5) and my character kind of parallel. Perry is very much the right-hand man to Kathleen, and James is very much the right-hand man to David. But the difference between them is that Kathleen listens to Harry. David is a man searching for an equal and James realizes that he's not it and that is the threat when he sees Ellie. [He sees] someone that is going to usurp his position.”
As expected from Baker, it’s a deep cut that fans and casual viewers will appreciate. Religious zealots who are also unwitting cannibals make for interesting characters already. Still, Baker made sure to give James even more depth instead of painting him as a one-dimensional cult member.
“James definitely recognizes that David is the devil and it's far better to be on the right hand of the devil than on the wrong end of the devil,” shared Baker. While James is an antagonist to Ellie, it’s never as basic as, “Oh, yummy. I want to eat her,” he explained.
“It was someone who was like, ‘Get her out of his of [David’s] eyesight because I understand where this could potentially go.’ But it was a lot of fun. I like playing quote bad guys. Typically, they have more dialogue,” joked Baker. “But we’re all the heroes of our own story.”
Baker’s a beloved figure in The Last of Us fandom, but the shift to playing a bad guy didn’t deter him one bit. His biggest challenge was to get people to like James, and he knew that “If I can get you to like me or at least understand my position, then I've done my job.”
If the fandom’s reaction is anything to go by, he succeeded with flying colors. On a personal level, becoming James came with its own special moments. During the production of the video games, Baker would go in wearing an unflattering performance capture suit with a camera suspended from a helmet hanging in front of his face, all while dealing with shiny balls all over him. But with the TV show, Baker got to experience The Last of Us world in all its glory.
“For me to be standing there on a beautiful location with real snow, the wind blowing through real trees next to a real river, looking down at a very fake deer was a wonderful moment for me to realize how full circle this thing had come and how grateful I am to have not only been a part of the game, but to be able to participate in the conversation on multiple levels,” said Baker. “Now, I get to be an observer and I get to watch.”
Catch Troy Baker as James in The Last of Us Episode 8, “When We Are In Need,” now streaming on HBO Go in the Philippines.
