Movies - TV
The Last Of Us Episode 8 Cut An Intense Unscripted Scene Between James & Ellie
By TYLER LLEWYN TAING
Spoiler Warning!
This story contains spoilers for
Season 1, Episode 8 of
“The Last Of Us.”
Troy Baker, who originated Joel in the video game version of “The Last Of Us,” demonstrated his range by playing James, one of David's cannibal clan in the penultimate episode of Season 1 of the game’s HBO adaptation. In an interview with Deadline, Baker teased that he shared an intense, unscripted scene with Bella Ramsey (Ellie) that didn't make the final cut of the episode.
Baker said, “David is having this conversation with Ellie, and then he gets interrupted by my character. James comes in and asks, ‘Can I have a minute?’ And David's like, ‘Yeah.’ So, David leaves, and in this scene, not scripted at all, I just give [fierce] dog eyes to Ellie. And every [take], it became this war without words to see who would win this brief spar. And every time, Ellie wins.”
Baker’s astonishment is unsurprising considering that Ramsey delivered an incredible performance in Episode 8 of “The Last of Us.” Ramsey has a dynamic screen presence, able to portray stubbornness, viciousness, and youthful vulnerability, but when Ellie meets David and James, there’s a special inner strength amongst mortal danger that Ramsey conveys.