The star of Naughty Dog’s next game has said she’s received preparation for the role – and specifically the online reaction to it – from studio boss Neil Druckmann, following the online abuse previously kicked up around The Last of Us Part 2.
Actress Tati Gabrielle will star as bounty hunter Jordan A Mun in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Naughty Dog’s upcoming sci-fi project for PlayStation 5. While Gabrielle has worked close to video games before – on PlayStation’s Uncharted film adaptation and as Nora in The Last of Us’ TV series – this will be her first video game role.
In preparation, Gabrielle said she had been given mental “bootcamp-ing” by Druckmann, as she becomes the face of the game.
Please be aware of spoilers for The Last of Us Part 2 below.
“Neil’s been bootcamp-ing me. I know Troy [Baker]’s experience, I know Ashley [Johnson]’s experience…” Gabrielle told EW.
“I know Laura Bailey’s experience,” Gabrielle continued, referring to the backlash Bailey received for her turn as The Last of Us Part 2’s Abby.
Prior to The Last of Us Part 2’s release, Abby’s role as the character that kills Joel was leaked, sparking a wave of online abuse and death threats aimed at Bailey and her son. “Every time I went online, that’s all I saw,” Bailey revealed previously as part of the game’s behind-the-scenes documentary, Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part 2, which was released in February last year. “Death threats and threats of violence.”
Gabrielle revealed that, like Bailey, she too has been the subject of backlash since it was announced she would star in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Already, she has had misogynistic and racist comments sent her way.
“I got a lot of love, but there was a lot of hate over me being a woman, me being a woman of colour, me having my head shaved, all these things that I didn’t even actually initially see,” Gabrielle said. “I’m out of the social media zeitgeist for that reason – but once I did, Neil [Druckmann] was like, ‘Ignore it. No matter what, me and you, we’re going to make something beautiful. We’re going to make something that we’re proud of’.”
The actress also spoke more about the upcoming game’s theme of faith. Back in March of this year, Druckmann explained how Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet features a fictitious religion which “becomes pretty prominent” in the game’s alternate history.
“The question of faith is not black and white,” Gabrielle elaborated. “When you initially think of faith, you think of religion, which is a part of it, but there’s also faith in oneself. There’s faith in your environment or your community. All that faith means is, What are your beliefs?
“What are the things that you hope for? Faith sounds flowery, but we all experience it day in and day out. What is your reason for waking up?”
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is in development for PS5. Last year, Druckmann confirmed Naughty Dog had a number of games in the works, including “multiple single-player projects”, this being one of them.
Elsewhere in studio news, Naughty Dog and HBO have just aired the fifth episode of The Last of Us season two.