Ian Alexander and Victoria Grace talk about The Last of Us Part II

In this new interview with Polygon, Ian and Victoria dive into their roles and experiences with The Last of Us Part II. 

BotIan Alexander and Victoria Grace had never worked on a video game before, and neither had any prior experience with performance capture. However, in a recent interview with Polygon, both agreed that playing the Seraphite siblings in The Last of Us Part II was one of the most transformative experiences they ever had.

Ian Alexander plays Lev, a former member of the in-game extremist religious sect called the Seraphites; he accompanies Abby throughout much of her journey. Alexander previously had live-action acting roles in Netflix’s original series The OA as Buck Vu and Vic in the 2018 film, Every Day.

Naughty Dog actually reached out to him directly — well, almost directly. At the time, Alexander didn’t have any representation, so Naughty Dog contacted The OA’s director, Zal Batmanlij, in order to ask him to pass on information about the role of Lev to Alexander and his mother. While he didn’t live in Los Angeles at the time, Alexander submitted a few self-taped auditions, and then he booked the role.

Alexander told Polygon that he spent the next three years working on The Last of Us Part II, during which time he felt incredibly supported and appreciated by the Naughty Dog team. “I remember feeling so special to have been selected for the role of Lev and having the opportunity to bring my own lived experience as a trans person to the table,” he said.

Grace, on the other hand, said that she was already familiar with The Last of Us and was well aware of the first game’s achievements and accolades within the video game industry. She played the role of Yara, the older sister of Lev. Her mother had actually found the opportunity through a job listing that contained a breakdown of Yara’s character.

At that time, The Last of Us Part II was described under a code name and the project was highly confidential. After sending an audition tape, Grace got invited to the motion capture stage for her callback. She met with Neil Druckmann and acted in a few scenes with Laura Bailey and Halley Gross.

Eventually Grace found out she had landed the role. She was especially happy, she said, because Yara’s description in the initial job posting had resonated so much with her: “I was immediately attached to Yara because of her strength, bravery, and selflessness.” Grace continued, “Her character breakdown described how she was willing to sacrifice everything she’s ever known for her younger brother. After reading it, I admired her and everything she stood for.”

Grace is the youngest of her five siblings. She noted that her views about family unconsciously carried over to her portrayal of Yara. Of course, Grace can’t relate to being an older sibling, much less living in a zombie apocalypse. However, she described how her close bonds with her own family allowed her to better understand the motivations behind Yara’s actions to protect Lev in The Last of Us Part II’s brutal world. “I would take a hammer to the arm for any of my siblings, and I know they’d do the same for me,” she says, referring to the graphic violence Yara endures during the scene in which the two siblings get introduced.

That very first scene introducing Lev and Yara was especially memorable for Grace; it’s quite the explosive entrance for both characters. Being thrown into an action sequence immediately was exhilarating, Grace recalled: “I got knocked down onto mats, I got to kill people with styrofoam hammers, and I got to scream my heart out! It was a blast!” When Grace wasn’t filming, she said that it was fascinating to watch behind-the-scenes as everyone else performed their parts. She would sometimes arrive early just to sit back and watch the other actors.

A big turning point in both Grace and Alexander’s journeys was the PlayStation Experience 2017 event, or PSX. This was when both Yara and Lev were publicly introduced for the first time to fans. For Alexander in particular, he felt empowered by all the support that the community showed him during the event. A fan actually came out to Alexander as trans during a signing portion at the event, and told Alexander that they were so happy to see a character like Lev included in their favorite game franchise of all time.

“I remember seeing how their face lit up the moment that they saw the transgender symbol necklace I was wearing,” Alexander explained. “It makes me smile to be able to provide authentic transmasculine representation for other people like me.”

Check out the full interview over at polygon.com