Due to the Super Bowl, The Last of Us’ fifth episode was released earlier this week, and it was yet another exhilarating chapter in the story.
Naturally, the program is based on the well-known video game by Naughty Dog and some of the game’s actors have offered their opinions on the live-action rendition.
One of them is Ian Alexander from The Last of Us Part II, who provided the voice and performance for Lev, a transgender teenager who was based on Alexander’s own appearance.
Alexander discussed the HBO series with Insider and said they would be thrilled to return to this world in the second season of the HBO adaptation, reprising their character.
Ian shared that “I was just so grateful I was able to be part of this franchise and I am so excited that we got picked up for season two. My fingers are crossed I get to reprise my role as Lev.”
Ian also opened up about the hate they received from transphobes after their role in the game.
“With The Last of Us Part II, and with Lev, there was much backlash, so much transphobic backlash, from the fans of the game who did not want to see a transgender character in the game. It was very heartbreaking because, in the first game, there was already queer representation. There was Bill and Frank. I am glad that they are making the LGBTQ representation more explicit and just… more obviously queer. I would love to see more of that,” Ian said during the chat.
Ian also talked about the show’s third episode which focused almost entirely on the touching romance between Bill and Frank, two characters much less explored in the first The Last of Us game.
They recalled that “I just started crying. It was cathartic, though. I really needed that. And I knew going into it, that this was gonna hurt.”
Speaking of reprising original roles in the adaptation, Troy Baker also opened up about the possibility of playing Joel on the show instead of Pedro Pascal.
When asked if he was in the talks of reprising the role in the live action, Troy shared that “Yeah. I mean, conversations are always popping up, and the thing I really respect about Neil, is that he was always focused. Still, to this day, he is always focused on the thing that’s right in front of him, and there is the tertiary conversation of, ‘What does it look like if we do this?”