The Last Of Us Voice Actor Troy Baker Admits He Was ‘Woefully Unprepared’ For The Part Of Joel

Troy Baker has revealed during a Q&A at GalaxyCon New Orleans 2025 that he was “woefully unprepared” for the part of Joel in The Last of Us, which ranks among his most celebrated roles to date.

When asked if playing the character had affected him on a personal level, Baker, who has appeared in a number of major video games including BioShock Infinite and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, replied, “you’re going to make me cry” and admitted it “deeply” affected him.

There’s nothing worse, and I hope that no one ever feels this… [but] do you ever show up to something and go ‘I am so woefully unprepared for this’? And, it’s not imposter syndrome, it’s a fact. You are not equipped to do the thing that you are about to do. You could be like, ‘let’s go bungie jumping!’, and then you get on the platform and you go, ‘I can’t do this’. That was The Last of Us for me. You get the gig, and then you go, ‘oh no, I have to deliver this’.

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He adde that his experience on The Last of Us “taught me how to be a better actor. “It taught me how to stop trying to convince people that I could act, and just realise that Joel has no idea that he’s in a game, and he’s just in a moment in his life. And, I took that lesson, and I apply it all the way across.”

Baker voiced Joel in The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II, forming a strong bond with his fellow co-star Ashley Johnson, who portrayed Ellie. Initially the pair butt heads on their journey across the post-apocalyptic U.S., but eventually a strong bond forms between the characters to the point where Joel becomes something of a surrogate father to Ellie. It’s this relationship that forms the beating heart of The Last of Us’ narrative, which sets the groundwork for the follow-up.

More recently, Baker starred in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle as the titular whip-cracking hero, and also appeared in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.

[Source – GalaxyCon New Orleans 2025 via Eurogamer]