In what has to be considered this week’s feel-good story, the entire The Last of Us crew learned sign language for Sam’s actor.
This week we were treated to an epic episode of The Last of Us TV series from HBO. Arguably the stars of the show were the brutal bloater as well as a sinister Clicker girl.
For the most part, The Last of Us TV series has been a very faithful adaptation of the original video game from Naughty Dog, with a few deviations here and there. One of the deviations for this week's episode was making Sam, the brother of Henry a deaf character.
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However, not only was Sam a deaf character, but the child actor that played him, Keivonn Woodard is deaf in real life. So, as reported by Tyla.com, it has been revealed that the entire crew of The Last of Us learned American Sign Language so that Keivonn was never left out of conversations.
Lamar Johnson, who played older brother Henry, spoke to TV Guide about how he and the crew wanted to learn ASL.
“I started taking lessons as soon as possible,” said Johnson. “Leading up to and even during filming I would be training, and I’d be working on my sign so that it can feel as organic as possible. Especially with Keivonn — Sam, being deaf in real life, I really wanted that communication to feel organic and authentic.”
What’s more, Keivonn’s mother, April, who was on set spoke about what it meant to Keivonn that the entire crew learned sign language.
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"It was important to me to always be discussing with [Keivonn] how he was feeling and how he felt working with his team," said April.
“I had the expectations, of course, that he being deaf, I was ready for barriers, and problems to happen, but that was not the case at all. I’m thankful we had such a great team that was receptive and motivated along with us. We were very fortunate to have that great team.”
The Last of Us TV series airs every Sunday on HBO Max in the US and every Monday on Sky Atlantic in the UK.
Featured Image Credit: Credit: HBO/Naughty DogTopics: The Last Of Us, PlayStation, TV And Film