Conventions give ordinary fans a chance to rub shoulders with Hollywood stars and heading into Oz Comic Con’s Xmas Edition, I was determined to get an answer to one of gaming’s great mysteries.
PlayStation’s classic The Last of Us doesn’t shy away from the horrors of humanity.
Its world is grounded by violence and the kindness characters show in spite of that brutality.
So when Tommy, Joel’s brother and Ellie’s surrogate uncle, was shot in the back of the head in the sequel, The Last of Us Part II, I can’t say I was surprised.
What shocked me is that he survived.
Tommy’s return has irked me for years. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled the character survived, but it felt at odds with a game hell-bent on realism.
With no hospitals and no doctors close to help, how does a man survive that?
Well, thanks to the upcoming Christmas edition of Oz Comic Con, I had a chance to ask the actor himself.
“The idea is that the shot got through and came out of his eye socket, so he’s blinded,” explained Jeffrey Pierce over a Zoom call before touching down in Melbourne.
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“Neil [Druckmann, executive producer] did his research. It’s a small calibre bullet, not a hollow-point.
“It didn’t get into the brain itself.”
As a fan of the series who has starred in both the video game and HBO’s TV spin-off, Pierce thought his time playing Tommy was over for good when he first read the script about his confrontation with Abby in the Last of Us Part II.
“I didn’t know when we shot it,” he laughs.
“When we got the script this morning I read, ‘and then Tommy gets shot in the back of the head’ and I was like, ‘Neil, is this the end?’
“He was interested in that as a realistic way to make it look Tommy’s been executed and to absolutely f— with the audience before turning it on its head.”
It’s a behind-the-scenes insight that fans will be hoping to hear on Saturday and Sunday for Pierce’s first trip to Australia.
He’ll be appearing for autographs, photos and Q and A sessions at the Gladiator’s Stage on both days, with a full schedule and tickets available at the Oz Comic Con website.
English actor Con O’Neill and voice actors Jason Liebrecht and Elizabeth Maxwell – who voices Urbosa and Riju in the Legend of Zelda series – are also appearing at the show.
