In the fourth episode of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation, Joel and Ellie’s road trip to Wyoming encountered a literal roadblock.
The still at odds pair ended up in the sights of Kathleen’s rebel faction, who had violently taken over the FEDRA QZ, after taking a detour to Kansas City, Missouri.
Kathleen is determined to find Henry Burrell, a “collaborator” who seemingly betrayed her brother, causing his death at the hands of FEDRA, with the assistance of her heavily armed enforcer, Perry.
The latter character is played by Jeffrey Pierce, who also voiced Tommy in the original Naughty Dog game so fans were definitely excited to see his new character in the HBO series.
Perry is an original character specifically written for the series, the same being the case for Kathleen, who does not show up in The Last of Us video game.
Also just like Kathleen, who has a mysterious past, Pierce claims that more about his character’s true identity will be revealed in the upcoming episodes.
Tommy’s voice actor in the original game storyline shared via Vulture that “I think he meshes a lot with the themes the show’s themes, as seen in the Joel and Ellie relationship, the Bill and Frank relationship, and the idea of having found purpose within this world. One of the things in the script was that he was maybe in the military, so I kind of ran with that: This guy was a professional prior to the outbreak, and then he found his purpose with Kathleen and the fight against FEDRA.”
Perry supports Kathleen even though he occasionally gives her the side-eye, suggesting that the two are not 100 percent on the same page all the time.
“I think he is the one person who is in any position to question her because he is an expert at what he does. But the loyalty is also covered by his love for her. We can make bad decisions when love is involved, and I think that is one of the themes of The Last of Us,” Pierce went on to reveal.
Even though Perry and Kathleen are not part of the video game, the seemingly complex characters have a fascinating backstory that goes beyond the savage Hunters in the game that serves as the show’s source of inspiration for the rebel gang we met in episode 4.
The talented actor stressed that “You’d have to do 12 more hours of gameplay to fit in Perry and Kathleen’s story. The opportunity to drop into that world and to give context to everything else that’s happening is really great. In the game, you don’t get any sense of what’s happening for the other key characters in that journey; you just know to escape. But exploring that can only be done in this sort of short-story-telling method.”