“You want to do justice to the work and justice to the character… and if you do that, I think the fan expectations will be met — and beyond.”

We’re seated in a quiet meeting room at a luxury Sydney hotel. To Jeffrey Wright’s left, a window offers a postcard view of the gorgeous Circular Quay — ferries drifting through the harbour, the sails of the Opera House just in view. At one point, he gestures toward the picturesque scene.

“I said yes because my son was a fan,” he says, reflecting briefly. “And now I’m here in Australia talking to you about it, because the game has become this wildly beloved global phenomenon that is this show.”

In The Last of Us season 2, Wright reprises the role of Isaac Dixon — a character he first portrayed through voice and motion capture in The Last of Us: Part II. Isaac was a small but potent presence in the game: a calculating commander of the Washington Liberation Front. Now, in live action, Wright steps into a story that’s only grown heavier. The season has already delivered major loss and character turns – and no shortage of passionate responses from fans online. Isaac enters the frame as a major new presence — the arrival of someone who’s been through too much and trusts very little.

Wright, of course, is no stranger to high-stakes storytelling. His résumé runs deep with projects like Westworld, The Batman, The Hunger Games, and the James Bond franchise. When it comes to playing in a world built on secrecy, anticipation, and highly passionate fans, he knows the game — and he plays it well.

Keeping Secrets and Feeding the Hype

“I’ve worked on shows that have a similar level of anticipation around them,” he says, reflecting on the sometimes absurd choreography of spoiler-free press tours. “I find it’s always necessary to keep something hidden in the pot until it’s time to serve the meal.”

He knows that a character like Isaac — arriving in a season that’s already scorched the ground — brings a certain level of tension with him. “Fans have such a voracious appetite for this series. You don’t want to spoil that,” he says. “And, you know, that old pesky social media out there… they’re already speculating as to what’s going on with everything — Isaac included.”

Still, he’s not fazed. “I kind of enjoy the dance — the secrecy dance.”

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“America’s strength, perhaps above all other things, is in its cultural output.”

Respecting the Fandom — Without Feeding the Algorithm

Wright’s been around the internet long enough to know how quickly things can spiral. He acknowledges the pressure of entering a world like this one, but he doesn’t let it override his instincts.

“The worrisome thing is when you’re a part of something that has no fandom,” he says with a half-smile. “Is anyone gonna watch it? That’s far more worrying. This is much better.”

But while the fandom may be large, Wright doesn’t let its online voice steer his creative choices. He understands the passion — and appreciates it — but his focus remains firmly on the work. “You want to be respectful of that,” he says, “but not by, you know, kind of scrolling through social media, getting people’s opinions — which I think more and more is revealing itself to be an unhealthy exercise generally. But you do that just by trying to do good work.”

It’s not about tuning out the audience, nor chasing their approval. For Wright, it comes down to trusting the material — serving the character, the writing, the arc — and letting the work speak for itself.

A Story Bigger Than a Role

Wright isn’t here to push merch or echo fan theories. For him, storytelling is serious — not in a self-important way, but in a deeply human one.

“Storytelling is a critical part of the human experience,” he says. “In some ways, the laws that a society is governed by are basically a collection of stories that are told, that have been lived, that we tell one another, and through which we gain an understanding of how our societies are ordered.”

He pauses, slightly, then adds: “Story is super, super human — very much at the core of what it means to be human. It’s not frivolous.”

That weight, he argues, becomes even more vital in uncertain times. “People are looking for something they can connect with in a real way — something that validates how they feel or reflects their concerns. It’s meaningful, you know?”

For Wright, stories don’t just entertain. They shape perception. “I’ve always thought that America’s strength, perhaps above all other things, is in its cultural output,” he says. “The shows that we make, the stories that we tell, the music that we make — that really draw people around the world toward America more so than anything else. It’s not the military — certainly not now. It’s cultural relevance. It’s the cultural output. It’s that soft power that has a greater magnetism to it than anything else that we do.”

“I’m a part of it because my son was a fan.”

Back in Uniform: Building Isaac for the Screen

Isaac might feel new to many HBO viewers, but for Wright, the character is already built — he’s just deepening him now.

“It’s very much an expansion of what was done in the game,” he says. “Try to be as authentic as possible, try to reflect back on the character as he existed in the game. And obviously, because I voiced it and did the mocap work on it, that was pretty simple.”

The production stays close to the source, right down to the look. “It was in the costume — and then the face to an extent — we certainly were using that as the holy grail blueprint for the character,” he says. “Adding some dimensionality to the character, a little bit of background, as audiences will see, as to where he came from and why. So yeah, all good fun.”

And while it may feel like a strategic piece of casting now, Wright didn’t get involved because of some long-term franchise plan. In fact, he joined the Last of Us universe because of his son.

“Neil [Druckmann, co-creator] kind of hinted at an invitation to be in the game,” he explains. “I knew Shannon Woodward, who was an actress on Westworld — she had been working on the game. Halley [Wegryn] Gross, who was a writer on Westworld, was writing for the game and also writes for the show. And they were kind of nudging me to be a part of it too.”

Then came the real pitch. “I asked my son if he knew anything about this game — his eyes dropped out of his head. He was so excited. And so I said, yeah, I’ll do it. And it was really that simple. I’m a part of it because my son was a fan.”

Staying Grounded When the Camera Stops

For all the weight his character carries — the warlord posture, the cold decisions — Wright doesn’t bring that energy with him off set.

“Oh God, that’d be a pretty miserable place,” he laughs, when asked if the mood of the show lingers between takes. “For me at least, the trick behind what we do is that it’s all an illusion. It’s not my daily reality or the reality of who I am. And when the camera stops rolling — I turn it off immediately.”

He grins. “I’m not going to walk around all day as Isaac.”

The Last of Us season 2 is currently unfolding on HBO and Max.