The original actors who portrayed Joel and Ellie in The Last of Us video games are reprising the roles for this year's Halloween Horror Nights attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando.
We got word of The Last of Us Halloween Horror Nights theme park ride in June, but it wasn't until now that we learned both Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson voiced lines for the attraction. Speaking to our sister publication SFX Magazine, Universal Orlando's Lora Sauls explained some of the ways the upcoming ride stays true to the source material, not least of which the inclusion of the original performers.
"We got to use the voiceover actors from the video game," Sauls said. "We did voiceover recordings with them and they re-recorded our entire dialogue for our haunted house. So we were very, very excited to work with both Troy and Ashley on the re-recording of our haunted house dialogue."
In addition to getting Baker and Johnson to record dialogue, Universal Studios worked directly with Naughty Dog and Neil Druckmann, who directed both The Last of Us games and is a co-creator and co-writer on The Last of Us TV adaptation. Sauls went on to explain that Druckmann specifically requested a popular location from the first game to be used as a setting for the haunted house.
"When working with Neil and team, they actually said to us, 'can we lean into the Pittsburgh part of the first video game?' And we were like, 'sure.' We later found out that that graphic in the Pittsburgh area got so many accolades online, [and] we understood why Neil wanted us to lean into Pittsburgh."
Fans of The Last of Us heading to Universal Studios this Halloween can also expect neat little details like a "weapons table" that looks like where you'd pick up gear in the games, and masks for Clickers and Bloaters "that are absolutely beautiful and identical to what you saw in that video game."
Tickets for the attraction are on sale now at Universal Studios Hollywood, with doors set to open at Universal Orlando starting Friday, September 1, and at Universal Studios Hollywood beginning Thursday, September 7. The fun lasts until November 4 in Orlando and until October 31 in Hollywood.
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