The Last of Us Part II (PS4, June 19, 2020) Video Game • Page 71

Makes sense, I'd imagine their ramping up production on Intergalactic since the expectation is that it will be out next year or early 2027

 

Halley Gross is no longer working on the show either, but that also makes sense to me since she was involved mostly in the development of Ellie and Dina's storylines and both will barely be in next season.

 

Neil Druckmann on Leaving Last of Us, Intergalactic: Heretic Prophet

 

Gonna post this here rather than the show thread because I don’t want to get into the spoiler part of that. But they cast Yara and Lev, and unfortunately did not go with a trans or nonbinary actor for Lev.

 

Bummer, that seems like it should’ve been a no brainer for them

 

Yeah for sure, they did note that Lev is still going to be trans so at least we don't have to worry about them changing that.

 

As great as it would’ve been to find the perfect actor for Lev, I feel like finding a trans actor of the correct ethnicity and age range seems like a pretty tall feat. They had to know that it was an uphill battle no matter what.

 

I’m ready for another play-through soon.

 

Yeah me too, I still want to play it in the chronological mode that they released a while ago

 

Someone made a point about the difficulties of picking an underage actor and someone who is publicly out, which can I see make sense. Not every working child actor is going to have the support from their family to be comfortable being out.

 

While I'm quite peeved, y'all do bring up some solid points

 

lol somehow I knew they were going to do this, just knew it. and maybe the most frustrating thing about it is that it has exposed just how much people are willing to make excuses for it, whilst the attempt to genocide trans folks out of public life is ramping up harder than ever and our community keeps experiencing devastating losses to our rights. not only that but it’s provided people, perhaps even some well-meaning self-described “allies”, an opportunity to express just how similarly they see trans boys/men to cis girls/women.

I would have preferred they casted a cis boy to play him than a cis girl, if they absolutely couldn’t find a trans actor up to the task. and this might be a bad take, but I also feel that the excuse of “asking the crew to find a trans boy in that age range with acting chops who is ALSO asian” is a cop out when the people responsible for casting this show have historically not cared at all about if the actors look like their game counterparts and have shown they’re willing to race swap characters (I have no issues with this just to be clear) … maybe I am forgetting something here but I think Lev’s transness is far more crucial for his character than his race. if you can’t find someone to meet all those intersections maybe focus on making sure the most crucial base is covered, and that is imo his trans identity. and at the end of the day, as sapphixated says in the video above, it may be a tall task but I don’t think it was impossible for them to find someone who meets all the game counterparts’ intersections of identity. casting a cis girl in the role is literally giving people an excuse to misgender the character altogether imo and the biggest losers are trans people as a whole. like I really thought it was pretty well-understood by this point (provided you actually care about honoring and respecting trans people), that trans roles should be portrayed by trans actors, regardless of what stage of transition the trans character is at.

this show has become a total dumpster fire and I am so glad this seems to be the final season. I can’t believe I am even saying that, given how much this series means to me, but that’s where I am at.

 

Yeah, I also don’t buy that casting couldn’t find a trans boy for the role. Especially now, it’s important for media to not perpetuate the harmful implication that being trans is essentially acting as a different gender. Not to mention continuing to cast cis actors in trans roles keeps actual trans people from getting work. I’ve really enjoyed the show so far, but this decision is regressive and upsetting

 

it’s also, as far as I know, not something the folks in charge of casting have offered up any sort of explanation for at all. they have not said anything to indicate that finding a trans actor for the role was exceedingly difficult or whatever, this is an excuse that is being made for them (largely by cis folks), at the expense of trans people. it has opened us up to being subject to another debate and being told that we have unrealistic expectations, or that we are too rigid and unforgiving in our desires for representation. and in this, we are once again being talked over in a conversation/discourse that should center us.

 

MSN

“HBO held an inclusive casting call for the role, with young performers of different backgrounds auditioning. It was won by Kratter — a child herself at 16 — as the actor the producers felt best embodied the character.”

Incredibly tone deaf

 

the casting makes me so mad i'm gonna... i'm gonna...
replay the game! yeahhhh. that's what i'm gonna do! that'll show them!
(i haven't done the chronological mode yet soooo)

 

oof, playing through the flashbacks back to back like that is such a gutpunch. really highlights the parallels between their two stories leading up to (what would normally be) the beginning of the game.

 

I appreciate the opinions on the casting and have a lot to think about and consider in my mind before I have an opinion, or even feel that I need to have one.

I am pretty disappointed with S2 of the show in hindsight, but it also makes me angry about how polarizing the 2nd game was. It's so stupid that people are still that torn up about it that it's bleeding into every single discussion, around every single project at naughty dog.

I think they stayed pretty true to the game for the big beats in s2, and a lot of this is on HBO and and streaming in general with limited episodes, but the pacing was just terrible. I think it was also unfairly persecuted by Bella haters and the 'I'm gonna be a dad' line was massively over criticized, but it was just missing so much from a plotting perspective to feel cohesive or satisfying narratively.

At this point it seems like s3 is going to once again be rushed, probably have a lower budget, not enough episodes, and have a target on its back. I have a feeling it's going to flop hard and that discussions on the casting and trans representation won't even have a chance to be heard and considered as there will be so much hate thrown at it from every angle. Now that it's lost a lot of the game fans, it's going to be hard to recover.

 

yea, it’s a huge shame. Game 2 is so epic and well thought out and genuinely moving that it’s hard to stomach how poorly season 2 of the show landed even just for me. Add in the really gross discourse surrounding it and it’s one of the bigger misses I can think of in the last decade of HBO, really. Bella was legitimately good in season 1! Im absolutely not willing to blame their performance alone - genuinely hard to understand how poorly adapted the character was this season.

 

hah i love infinite crafting. spamming molotovs is hilarious

edit: made it to seattle. the joel scene is a tough watch every time. but i gotta admit, that's one of the times the show is more shocking/devastating.

the show wasted so much time on jackson being attacked by a horde and the whole council meeting on whether or not to let ellie leave; some stuff in seattle felt rushed because of it. not to mention dina's slow burn bisexuality just always felt off for me.

 

if there's a perfectly fine window, i'm breaking it and hopping through, even when especially when there's an open doorway right next to it.

 

i love any time Abby and Lev are together, their banter is so great.

"what's going on between you and Owen?"
"OMG LEV, NOW?!"

 

some of chronological mode is so awkward haha. you get the whole thing with abby getting to the hospital, then a little cutscene where ellie is back at the theater with jesse, then suddenly you're abby again haha