Everyone who is everyone knows what happened when Naughty Dog released The Last of Us Part II in 2020. It was dragged through the wringer for several reasons, facing review bombing issues despite being an utter masterpiece of a game. Fast-forward to right now, and the television series is dealing with a similar problem.
Being fully aware of what some gamers are like, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann has been ‘bootcamping’ the lead actor in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophecy. In a recent interview, Tati Gabrielle revealed how she’s been preparing for what might come.
‘There Was a Lot of Hate’
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tati Gabrielle took a deep dive into her new role as Jordan Mun, the star of Naughty Dog’s next epic, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Unfortunately, part of what she revealed was around the hate she and her character had already recieved following the grand reveal of the game in December 2024 at The Game Awards:
I got a lot of love, but there was a lot of hate over me being a woman, me being a woman of color, me having my head shaved, all these things that I didn’t even actually initially see — I’m out of the social media zeitgeist for that reason — but once I did, Neil 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.’
She then explained that Druckmann, the creator of Intergalactic and The Last of Us, had been preparing her for the worst:
Neil’s been bootcamp-ing me. I know Troy’s experience, I know Ashley’s experience… I know Laura Bailey’s experience.
By ‘Laura Bailey’s experience’, Gabrielle is referring to the unbelievable hatred levelled at Laura Bailey for her portrayal of Abby, one of the playable characters in 2020’s The Last of Us Part II. Abby was responsible for taking the life of the beloved Joel Miller in a brutal act of revenge, and some gamers couldn’t let that go.
It got so bad that Laura Bailey’s children had their lives threatened.
Tati Gabrielle is ecstatic about being part of the ‘Naughty Dog family’, and she has already more than dipped a toe in that water. She was in the live-action adaptation of Uncharted and is currently playing Nora in HBO’s The Last of Us.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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