This Last of Us actor is happy he got the ‘best death of the season’

[Ed. note: As you might’ve guessed from the headline, this post contains spoilers for a death at the end of The Last of Us episode 5.]

Everybody gets screwed at one point during the suburban throwdown at its end. Last of UsEpisode 5. “Endure and Survive” ends with an elaborate action set piece, with infected swarming out of a sinkhole and overrunning Joel (Pedro Pascal), Ellie (Bella Ramsey), and their Kansas City allies and enemies alike. There are many people who die. Perry (Jeffrey Pierce), who is torn apart by a bloater, dies an awful death.

Even out of focus in the background as Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) escapes, it’s a particularly gnarly kill. And Pierce, who also voiced Joel’s brother Tommy in Last of Us game, wouldn’t have it any other way — and not only because it’s an Easter egg.

“Craig [Mazin, co-showrunner] said, ‘Look you’re gonna get the best death of the entire season,’” Pierce tells Polygon in an interview. “And for me — he is a man who has lived by a code of honor. And the idea that he gets this honorable death that he gets to choose, and to sacrifice himself in the hope of Kathleen potentially being able to escape, is really as heroic and selfless an act as you can hope for.”

Pierce was attracted to Perry’s strength every time he was in front of him. Perry had served in the military and was not interested in joining FEDRA. Pierce describes going back and forth with the props department, assembling the look that he wanted for the character he envisioned: a plate carrier tactical vest, a personal weapon along with his FEDRA Beretta, three separate knives (“In the lore of the game, your knives run out,” Pierce notes), and a med kit on his back. The goal was for him to feel steely and professional, in line with the “mythology of cowboys and samurai.”

“So, yeah, I love that that’s the way that he got to choose to end things, despite the fact that she doesn’t quite take advantage of the window that he buys her,” Pierce says with a laugh. “Maybe somebody got away because he sacrificed himself!”

Ultimately, the Kansas City cul-de-sac just wasn’t big enough to contain the CordycepsThere is a network under the city. Perry is yet another zombie killed in an increasingly crowded world. Pierce will never forget the moment he gave his life for the cause of humanity.

“We did everything up to the bloater grabbing hold,” Pierce says, noting that there was a real guy in the bloater suit. “He was hilarious. It was almost like an Australian rugby player at 6 feet 5 inches. He would also do Michael Jackson-style dance moves in his bloater suit between takes. But also, when a guy that big is running across the street at you, it’s a little terrifying. […]None [the acting there] was hard.”