Posted in: HBO, TV | Tagged: HBO, Jeffrey Pierce, naughty dog, the last of us

The Last of Us: Jeffrey Pierce Discusses Scrapped Film, Tommy & Perry

Jeffrey Pierce on why The Last of Us film was scrapped, not reprising Tommy from the games, Perry's role on the HBO series, and more.

Jeffrey Pierce is one of a few actors (along with Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson, and Merle Dandridge) who was there from the very beginning when Naughty Dog released the 2013 megahit The Last of Us for the Sony PlayStation 3, its 2020 sequel Part II for PlayStation 4, and have a live-action adaptation presence on the HBO series. In contrast, Dandridge is the only one to reprise her video game counterpart, while Pierce (Tommy), Baker (Joel), and Johnson (Ellie) play original characters in the current adaptation. We meet Pierce's Perry, the right-hand of Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), the militia leader who overtook FEDRA. The actor spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the scrapped movie, transitioning to the TV series, being a team player with Gabriel Luna playing Tommy, and more. The following contains major spoilers for the episode "Endure and Survive."

The Last of Us Movie That Wasn't

"As good as it was, it was never gonna be a great movie," Pierce said of Neil Druckmann's initial plans for a film adaptation. "In a two-hour runtime, how are you gonna tell 14, 17 hours of story? Then I think that there was some conversation about it maybe being an animation motion-capture movie series at some point, and that seemed like a good idea, but we've been down that road." The franchise follows two survivors, Joel & Ellie, as they travel across the country on a pilgrimage to save humanity from the Cordyceps apocalypse. When the actor initially read for Tommy for the film, he was the only cast member from the games to attend the read-through and won't reveal who else was present.

Pierce recalled the time he and his game co-stars were doing mo-cap (motion capture) for the games and how that translates to what would become the HBO series. "So how would that become special?" he said. "The second that I heard that Neil and Craig had lunch together — I had just watched 'Chernobyl' in a hotel room in Vancouver or something and was floored by this historical event — I knew that the two of them were gonna make something just about perfect." In the series, Perry becomes the reluctant voice of reason to Kathleen, who's out for revenge against Henry (Lamar Johnson) she blames for her brother's death after he turns him into FEDRA. The government agency gave Henry access to Leukemia medicine to help his brother Sam in exchange for his services.

Mazin admits bringing in video game actors like Pierce goes beyond fan service. "It's a dramatic genetic connection between the game and the show," he said. "They needed to be there." "I knew that Tommy was not gonna be something that I was gonna play in this go-round," Pierce explained, noting that while he's older than his game counterpart in Tommy, it wouldn't stop Dandridge from reprising her role. "But I emailed [Druckmann] early on and said, 'Look, man. If there's anything that I can do to help support this story, if there's something that I can come in and create that's different from Tommy or that stands in the back and carries a fucking spear, I'll be there in a heartbeat because I wanna support this thing that we've been a part of for so long."

For more, including Pierce talking about his approach to Perry, why he calls him a "Kurosawa ronin," the infected swarm, and Perry's death, you can check out the entire interview here. The Last of Us airs Sundays on HBO.

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