Why Indiana Jones' Troy Baker Originally Turned Down Game Awards Nominated Role

At MCM Comic Con London, GAMINGbible sat down with Troy Baker who many of you may know as Joel Miller from The Last of Us, Higgs Monaghan from Death Stranding, and Sam from Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, to name a few of his iconic roles.

When Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was released in 2024, Troy fulfilled a childhood dream, following in the footsteps of Hollywood superstar Harrison Ford in playing Dr. Henry Walton Jones Jr., better known to many as Indy. Troy began our conversation explaining how that opportunity came to be.

“A friend of mine, Travis Willingham, was, like, ‘Dude, did you see this? I got an audition for Indiana Jones’, and I literally told him, ’You can't do it. You're setting up a failure’,” recalled Troy. “If you do Harrison Ford, people are gonna pick you apart if you sound nothing like him, and if you sound too much like him, they’ll do the same. It’s a lose-lose situation.”

“Cut to a couple of months later, and I get a call from a director that I have never worked with, and he says, ‘I like you for this role,’ and it was for Indiana Jones. I said, ‘Do you want Harrison Ford?’ and he replied, ‘We want 1981 Harrison Ford.

"And I said, ‘Great, I can give you two names perfect for the role.’ Then he said, ‘I want you for this role.’ So I recorded my audition, and told him, ‘If it's good enough, great, but if it’s not, bury the tape, and no one will ever see it.’ But the rest is history, as they say.”

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Bethesda Softworks

Troy explained that despite being nervous about the role and being told by Bethesda director and executive producer Todd Howard that he was doing a great job, he would later receive the ultimate seal of approval from the main man himself, Harrison Ford.

“It was unexpected. First of all, I’m glad that he first praised the game, which is most important because I, and a lot of people, worked hard on that game,” Troy said. “The fact that he recognised what we had made, it meant a lot to everybody at MachineGames. It wasn't just about my performance. It’s a game that’s worthy of bearing that name. When I was on stage with Harrison at The Game Awards in 2024, I was thinking to myself, ‘Don’t lock your knees. Don’t pass out. Let this be a highlight. Let this be a deathbed moment.’”

We then moved on to arguably Troy’s most talked about role. I am, of course, about to mention several major spoilers for Joel in The Last of Us Part II. If you’re reading this, you probably already know. But just in case, let this be your final spoiler warning.

To cut a long story short, Joel gets brutally murdered by Abby Anderson as an act of revenge for what he did during the concluding moments of The Last of Us Part I, after “rescuing” Ellie from the Fireflies.

The Last of Us Part II, Sony Interactive Entertainment

Troy On That Memorable The Last Of Us Part II Moment

Joel’s Death was one of the most shocking moments in video game history. For some, it was enough for them not to play the remainder of the sequel, despite loving the original game. Regardless of your reaction to the scene, it’s easy to acknowledge that the performances from everyone involved were nothing short of breathtaking.

“I found out when I was in London, I think the DLC for The Last of Us Part I, ‘Left Behind’, had won a BAFTA. I was with Neil [Druckmann], we were waiting for a cab on Canary Wharf, and he said, ‘So, I have an idea for Part II’, and I said, ‘Okay,’ and he said, ‘Joel dies.’ I’d previously joked to Neil about that happening, saying what we should do in Part II. I never actually came up with that idea, but it always felt like a natural progression for the story,” explained Troy.

“Neil always talked about not building a franchise. He was always about telling a story. Part I was Joel’s story, and Part II is Ellie’s story. But when I first found out about Joel dying, I went through the first stage of grief, denial. Then there was anger and depression. And finally, acceptance and one of our biggest fights with Neil was over that scene.

“He told me that I needed to trust him. ‘I know it looks brutal on the page, and it’ll look brutal on screen. But I need you to trust me that we’re going to do it right,’ he said, and he did. The hardest part about that scene was not acting it out; it was watching it on screen.”

At MCM Comic Con London, not only did Troy host a meet and greet with fans, but he also performed songs he had written inspired by The Last of Us live on stage, referred to as ‘Songs for Joel’.

“After Part II, when we were in the middle of the pandemic, I found myself thinking more about Joel, and as a lot of people did during that time, I picked up my guitar, and I started to write all these songs. I love coming to shows like this [MCM Comic Con], because it allows you to share stories and some personal experiences with fans, through these songs,” Troy said.

“I also get to play with musicians that I've never played with before, but I've sent them the songs, and I can't wait to hear what they come up with. They’re all so incredibly talented. We’re having no rehearsal, and I have no idea what they're going to play. So it's a truly unique one-night-only performance and completely organic, and I get to hear these songs at the same time as the audience. So, it's something new for me as well.”

Death Stranding, Sony Interactive Entertainment

The Mind Of Hideo Kojima

One of my favourite performances from Troy is the aforementioned Higgs Monaghan in the Death Stranding series. Without giving too much away, he’s not only a piece of work, but oddly charismatic and flamboyant, and in certain ways, reminds me of the legendary, late great musician David Bowie.

“I’ll take that comparison,” said a gleeful Troy. “I’m going to lay that on Hideo Kojima. He knows how to create characters. He's been doing it for decades. The thing that I've learned about Kojima is that he provides the framework of an archetype, and then he trusts the performers to fill in the details, even though he could tell you every single facet of that character. He allows the performers to find the truth.”

He continued, “He never told me how I felt. He never told me what to do. ‘Here's the scene. Here's what's happening around you. I need you to start here and end there. Have fun.’ And we did. We had fun every day.

“There were times where Norman [Reedus] and I would laugh about the confusion, and we were like, ‘Okay, we've got to trust you.’ Sometimes it felt like the blind leading the blind, but after the game finally came out, we understood everything. The guy is an artist.”

To conclude our conversation, Troy reflected on what has given him the most joy in life recently.

“My son,” he said. “The best role I’ve ever had is being a dad and being a parent with my wife. And with my wife, it’s the conversations we never had. When she’s asleep, and I’m awake, I say to her when she wakes up, ‘That’s when I love you the most, because I can’t wait for you to wake up.’ Having a cup of coffee in the morning, in the backyard. Even when it's foggy, and we can barely see what’s in front of us. We talk about life, our son or whatever else is on our minds.”