[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 4.]
The Final of Us made approach for a serious character introduction as viewers met WLF chief Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright), however issues kicked off with a bang in a 2018 flashback amid his defection from FEDRA in Seattle, which included a cameo from Josh Peck. Sure, you learn that proper.
The actor who stepped into the boots of a FEDRA soldier was touring in a van alongside Sergeant Dixon and others via the ravaged streets of Seattle in Episode 4’s opening scene. All of the whereas, Peck’s soldier delivered a darkish monologue about his therapy of the residents whom he known as “voters.”
When requested by a younger recruit, Burton (performed by The Gilded Age‘s Ben Ahlers), what that time period meant, it was Isaac who chimed in to notice that the nickname was born out of the truth that residents now not had the ability to vote, leaving them powerless. The joking tone conveyed in Peck’s monologue out of the blue shifted at that time as he turned apologetic over his flippant method to the topic.
Immediately, every little thing was halted as a bus blocked the trail of their car, and crowds of suspected WLF members surrounded them. Isaac exited the van with Burton in tow, because the others sat behind. When Isaac linked with Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach) and confirmed identities, he circled to throw a grenade into the again of the FEDRA van and locked the door as he doomed his former colleagues, together with Peck.
Under, Peck opens up about his cameo, taking over The Final of Us and Oppenheimer post-Nickelodeon, and extra.
HBO
How did this cameo come about? Had been you a fan of the sport or present earlier than you landed the position?
Josh Peck: No. I knew how large it was and the way cherished and nicely achieved it was, but it surely wasn’t till I received the audition that I watched the primary episode, as a result of I wished to ensure I used to be matching the tone and to see the world through which it takes place that I fell in love with it. I binged your entire present in a single sitting. And so when the audition got here, it was actually good writing and a monologue, which you don’t often get as an actor. More often than not, if it’s some procedural, you’ve received strains like, “Oh, they discovered her down by the quarry,” whereas this was actually one thing to take a chew out of and make decisions and dig in. So I used to be excited, and good writing makes it straightforward since you perceive the entry factors, it humanizes it. So there are a number of methods through which I may draw from recollections in my life and tales that I’ve advised earlier than, after which a few weeks later, I received the half.
Talking of the monologue, your character is telling a narrative that’s delivered with a comedic ignorance that’s rapidly extinguished by Isaac. How do you stability that tonal shift?
I feel ignorance is an efficient phrase. I’ve to take away the subject material from what I’m speaking about as a result of it’s so excessive and so ugly, and I don’t have any parallels in my life to match that. What I do have is a parallel of telling one among my favourite tales to associates that also cracks me as much as this present day. And in that approach, you simply can’t decide it as a result of nobody will know that once I’m telling this story about this terrible factor on the present, I used to be actually excited about my greatest buddy and one thing we did after we had been youngsters. However so long as it’s rooted on this actual place and it matches the stakes that the scene requires… that’s my very own little secret. After which it was additionally an entry level for me with the tone shift, is that he’s harm by Isaac calling him out, and who hasn’t been on this state of affairs, be it at college or in your office, the place somebody has kind of chastised you for one thing. So all of these issues I may actually relate to.
HBO
Was the monologue absolutely scripted, or did you get to mess around with it?
No approach. It was phrase for phrase, and I say that as a result of when one thing is actually good writing… look, I already had the job and I’m useless, so I’m not preventing for display screen time… I actually am a fan of the present and of Craig Mazin. When it’s actually good writing, it’s like music, and also you don’t wish to throw in an additional little flourish right here or there as a result of it throws off the timing, and so I wished to try to get it as word-perfect as I may. After which what was nice, as a result of we had all day to shoot, each take was somewhat totally different in taste. And one factor I did do earlier than they might yell motion was we’d simply get the giggles earlier than [because] I didn’t wish to begin [the monologue] from a chilly cease. I wished to go in with that power.
How was the filming course of between the van and the road scene?
The primary day was all the outside stuff on the road, taking pictures contained in the van, after which the following day was every little thing throughout the van, however we shot it on the sound stage. And when a present pretty much as good as The Final of Us and you’ve got the assets, we may take away each wall of the van actually from the driving force’s cab to the appropriate, the left aspect, and the again. So actually, the digicam may get anyplace it wanted to get. If we had simply had a inventory car, we’d’ve been far more restricted.
Wow, that’s wild that they might take away the perimeters of the van.
Yeah, they constructed a match of the automobile. It was like a large LEGO.
How was it working reverse Jeffrey Wright?
Jeffrey Wright’s one among my favourite actors. Basquiat is one among my prime 5 favourite films. It was cool to be on set and simply be in his power. And once I was doing my becoming for the present about two days earlier than filming, I noticed half of an image of Jeffrey within the wardrobe becoming room, and I simply keep in mind going, [makes awestruck face], as a result of I didn’t know who was taking part in Isaac, it was a secret up till that time. [When] I noticed his headshot, I used to be stoked.
Are you excited for the key of your casting to return out? How do you hope followers react?
I imply, I’ll in all probability keep off the web as soon as it comes out. I do know persons are going to have opinions, however I hope they prefer it.
That is simply the newest large venture you’ve been part of since 2023’s Oppenheimer. Do you will have any large plans for future roles?
Simply attending to work with people who I’m a fan of, and on reveals with nice writing and nice actors, I’ve been so spoiled with Oppenheimer and this. These are the sort of films and reveals that I like. And I feel I’ve all the time tried, whether or not it was this film, The Wackness, I did years in the past with Ben Kingsley, and kind of every little thing since, I attempt to do issues that I wish to watch. So what’s subsequent? Who is aware of? I wasn’t anticipating it to be The Final of Us, and it labored out that approach. So I simply attempt to be prepared for regardless of the subsequent neatest thing is.
What’s a enjoyable behind-the-scenes story out of your expertise on The Final of Us?
So I auditioned and about two or three weeks later, I received the half, they usually stated, “We’re going to shoot in a few month.” So you will have a month until taking pictures, and on this planet of TV, between the time you get a component from [when you start] taking pictures, you would possibly get ten totally different revised variations of the script as a result of actors change, places change, circumstances change, they enhance issues, they punch up issues, it simply modifications. Typically you stroll on set they usually’re like, “Hey, we rewrote this.”
And so I keep in mind I’m working off the script and I’m getting ready daily. After which I get there and the day earlier than filming, I get this pit in my abdomen and go, “Oh my god, I haven’t gotten a revised script. Am I working off the appropriate script?” So I referred to as the assistant director, and he goes, “No, that’s the appropriate script. That’s what we’re taking pictures tomorrow. And I am going, “Okay.” And I present up on set, and Craig, after he introduces himself, seems to be at me and says, “What if I had modified every little thing on you final night time?” And I used to be like, “I used to be anxious you probably did. I used to be so terrified that this complete monologue was going to be utterly totally different.” And he laughed and checked out me and stated, “Nah, I don’t work that approach.” Shout out to Craig.
The Final of Us, Season 2, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO and Max