Troy Baker has broken his silence about reuniting with Neil Druckmann on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Naughty Dog’s next big game. Naughty Dog is up there with Rockstar Games when it comes to developers who have set the bar high for themselves. Although Naughty Dog has been around for many decades now, the developer really began to break into an upper echelon of the industry with Uncharted and then The Last of Us. These highly cinematic, character-driven action games received praise from fans and critics alike for not only having really excellent gameplay, but also movie-like storytelling that elevated them above their competition.
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For Naughty Dog’s next game, the developer is going to space with Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. After years of silence, the game was officially unveiled last year at The Game Awards. Although some fans had hoped that the developer was working on The Last of Us Part 3, it is clear that the team wanted to shake things up with something very new and different. Not much is known about the game, but it will follow a bounty hunter who is searching for a crime syndicate on a remote planet. Intergalactic is expected to still be a couple of years away from releasing, so we will likely remain in the dark on it a bit longer.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet Star Troy Baker Talks Working With Neil Druckmann Again and Not Playing the Lead
With that said, ComicBook.com got to sit down with actor Troy Baker for an exclusive conversation about his role in the new reboot of Screamer. However, I couldn’t resist asking at least one question about Intergalactic. Knowing how precious PlayStation and Naughty Dog are about keeping things under wraps, I didn’t go for any spoilers or big juicy details. Instead, I asked him about reuniting with Neil Druckmann.
The two have worked together on three games prior to this, but they have a unique working relationship. They’re both very passionate about their work and it can lead to very heated debates during production, though all in the name of making sure they’re telling the best story possible. With Intergalactic being a brand new IP and Baker’s character being a supporting one instead of a protagonist, I asked him if there are less heightened opinions on this one or if he and Druckmann are still butting heads. Baker laughed and noted that they are very much still having their typical, passionate clashes.
“We did two weeks ago, man. Neil and I will always, it’s our vibe,” said Baker. “We just love to butt up against each other. We were doing a table read, and I was literally like, ‘Why are you giving me shit right now? I’m asking you a question!’ And everybody else is like, ‘Our mom and dad are fighting, are we still going to Disneyland?’ We’re fine. We’re fine!”
Speaking to the fact that he isn’t the main character in Intergalactic, Baker takes comfort in the fact that he can be a piece in the very large puzzle of game development and wants to be someone that others want to work with.
“I’ve had a hell of a career. This industry owes me nothing. What a ride. I don’t think that I deserve or need anymore,” he says. “But I am enjoying it now, now that I understand more about game development, I enjoy the process more than I do the credit. And some of my games that I look back on and go, ‘Man, I learned so much on that,’ and they were not Game of the Year contenders. There’s no BAFTA nomination associated with it. My reward was in more ephemeral qualities than money or accolades, or even recognition. So I’m enjoying the position that I have, which I still feel is a very important position with Intergalactic.”
He continued by noting that he aspires to have a career like George Clooney’s within gaming, citing his varied body of work where he plays a wide range of roles, big and not-as-big.
“I want to be like George Clooney,” said Baker, “I want to have my Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and my Michael Clayton, and some of his directing work too. He’s just an amazing person. The things that he’s able to create and the reason why he continues to be in things like Oceans 11, Up in the Air, or The American is because people just want to work with him.
“My number one thing that I’m always trying to accomplish, if I’m able to pay my bills, that’s great, but more than anything, if a team by the end of it feels like I helped bring this game across the line, I helped in any way raise the quality, or if at the very least have some fun making it, I’ve done my job. That’s what I’m here to do, and that’s what I want to continue to do.”
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