In the sixth episode of HBO’s The Last of Us, the show introduced us to a new side character who was never seen in the games: Joel’s father. Played by Tony Dalton, Javier Miller was a police officer who displayed violent and aggressive tendencies towards his two sons.
In an interview with EW, game director Neil Druckmann (who also directed episode 6 in Season 2) said that Tony Dalton was his first choice for the role of Javier Miller. “Tony Dalton was my first choice,” Druckmann says. “I just loved his performance so much in Better Call Saul. I jokingly refer to him as the most charming, threatening man I’ve ever seen on television.”
In fact, Druckmann was so taken with Dalton’s performance that he’s been offered a role in Naughty Dog’s upcoming project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Druckmann didn’t go into detail about what the role would entail, but said that “He immediately came to mind, and I just offered it to him on the spot.”
This would mark Dalton’s video game debut. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet also stars Tati Gabrielle — who plays Nora in HBO’s The Last of Us — as the main protagonist.
Tony Dalton has been in the film/TV scene for years, but is best known for his role as Lalo Salamanca in Better Call Saul. Unlike the other members of the Salamanca family we’d seen up to that point, who were all just violent but somewhat easily manipulated, Lalo was much more scheming and clever. He was also, of course, completely insane and very terrifying like the rest of his family.
Dalton also played minor roles in Netflix’s Sense8, Hawkeye, and Daredevil: Born Again. I, for one, am certainly looking forward to seeing him in video game form, whenever Intergalactic actually gets released.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet was announced for the PS5, though a set release date has not yet been announced.
