Troy Baker, the voice actor for Joel in The Last of Us games, stated that fans have not seen the last of the character despite his death in the second game. In an interview with Eurogamer, Baker expressed hope for Joel to appear in future projects across multiple mediums. He praised Pedro Pascal's portrayal in HBO's adaptation and remains open to other actors taking on the role.
Troy Baker, who voiced Joel in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us games, believes the character's story is far from over. Joel meets his end early in The Last of Us Part II, killed by Abby with a golf club. Yet Baker told Eurogamer, “I definitely know we’ve not seen the last of Joel, whether that be Naughty Dog or somebody else.” He advocated for the character to be “proliferated and iterated on in multiple mediums, whether it be TV, film, more games, comic books.” Baker applauded the HBO adaptation for reaching wider audiences. He praised Pedro Pascal's performance, saying it revealed new aspects of Joel that he had missed. “All I wanted was for Pedro to show me something in his performance that I missed with Joel. And, he did it every episode,” Baker said. Watching Pascal's Joel die in the show's second season was “brutal” for him, but he hopes Pascal is not the last to play the role. Filming has begun for the third season of HBO's The Last of Us, featuring Kaitlyn Dever reprising Abby and newcomer Kyriana Kratter as Lev. Game director Neil Druckmann has stepped back from the show to focus on Naughty Dog projects. Naughty Dog is reportedly considering a third Last of Us game after Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.