The Last of Us Part II Actor Hopes to Reprise Role for HBO Series

By Jamie Jirak

The fifth episode of The Last of Us was released early this week because of the Super Bowl, and it was another thrilling addition to the series. Of course, the show is based on the popular video game of the same name, and some of the actors from the game have been commenting on the live-action adaptation. One such person is The Last of Us Part II's Ian Alexander, who voiced and performed Lev, a transgender teen who was modeled after Alexander's likeness. Alexander recently talked to Insider about the HBO series and revealed they would love to reprise their role in the show.

"I was just so grateful that I was able to be a part of that franchise and I'm so excited that we got picked up for season two," Alexander shared. "My fingers are crossed that I get to reprise my role as Lev." During the chat, Alexander also opened up about the backlash that came from transphobic trolls. 

"With The Last of Us Part II, with Lev, there was so much backlash, so much transphobic backlash, from fans of the game who didn't want to see a transgender character in the game," Alexander explained. "It was really heartbreaking because, in the original game, there was queer representation. There was Bill and Frank. I'm glad that they're making the LGBTQ representation more explicit and more just... obviously queer. I'd love to see more of that."

They added of the third episode of The Last of Us series, which focused on Bill's (Nick Offerman) and Frank's (Murray Bartlett) romance. "I just started crying," Alexander said of the love story. "It was cathartic, though. I needed that. And I knew going into it, I was like, this is gonna hurt. I know this is gonna hurt."

Was Troy Baker Ever in Talks To Appear in The Last of Us?  

Troy Baker played the original Joel Miller in the game, the role that has since gone to Pedro Pascal in the live-action series. During Baker's chat with The Last of Pods, he was asked about the new show. 

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"Yeah," Baker replied when asked if he was ever in conversations to play the role of Joel in live-action. "I mean, the conversations are always popping up, and the thing that I really respect about Neil [Druckmann] is he was always focused. Still, to this day, he's always focused on the thing that is in front of him, and there's the tertiary conversation of, 'What does this look like if we do this? And maybe I could do this,' but even when we were shooting the first game, it was, 'Well, we got to set this up for a franchise. Come on, let's squeeze this out for three games,' and he goes, 'I have to act like this is the only game we're going to make,' and I was like, 'People are going to be with this ending, dude. They're going to riot with this ending,' and he goes, 'Good.' I just don't want them to be ambivalent. If they hate it, fine, if they love it, great, but if they don't care, that means we didn't do our job."

Are you hoping to see Lev in The Last of Us show? Tell us in the comments! 

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