Josh Peck on Landing a Cameo on Fan-Favorite HBO Show ‘The Last of Us’

If you like zombie-filled, fungal-outbreak, apocalyptic types of stories, The Last of Us might just be your cup of tea. HBO’s adaptation has transcended its PlayStation origins to become the network’s breakout hit, securing its place as the second-most watched HBO premiere and drawing 32 million viewers in its first season. While weekly viewers anticipate gore and guts in every episode, they probably didn’t expect the latest guest, Josh Peck, to make an appearance. 

The Good Guys host and Nickelodeon alum has been sitting on this secret for nearly a year and recently took to Good Guys to share his experience of auditioning and landing a cameo on the series. If you love The Last of Us or just are a big fan of Peck, you’ll want to hear what he has to say about filming the show—something he is really proud of. 

“Your boy was on The Last of Us, episode four. No big deal….It’s nice when you know that something is good. I’ve convinced myself that some garbage is good. You have to trick yourself. You have to,” Peck jokes. That’s show business folks. Not all shows are created equal, but luckily, The Last of Us is a true fan favorite.

What it was like filming ‘The Last of Us’

Despite spending three days in Vancouver, Canada shooting it, Peck appears only in the opening scene of season two, episode four. He plays a cynical, wise-talking, know-it-all member of the FEDRA, the post-apocalyptic military organization that takes control over the U.S. after the outbreak. Fans only catch a few minutes of Peck—if you blinked, you might have missed it—as the sergeant of the military brigade tosses grenades into the tank that Peck and the rest of his team are sitting in. Bye bye Peck! 

Peck jokes about the range of roles he plays in Hollywood: “This is what I do. I go from Oppenheimer to iCarly. I go from The Last of Us to Hallmark. This is me. I’m not in the box!”

According to Peck, his wide and varied acting resume reflects his lack of pretentiousness: “I’m eating at the five-star Michelin restaurant. I’m also eating chicken wings out of someone’s armpit in the back of an alley.”

Auditioning for the big role 

Believe it or not, Peck still has to audition for roles, like the guest spot on The Last of Us. Sorry, but his iCarly and Oppenheimer fame hasn’t elevated him above the audition process like the regular guys. He received a three-page monologue, auditioned, and a few weeks later, he got the part.

Peck felt confident about his audition, but he also knows to hold the audition process with open hands, as acceptances and rejections are just a part of the business. He explains, “It was pretty spectacular. I got the audition and saw the scene. I felt fairly confident. Then, I did five or six takes, and I picked the best one and sent it. But I don’t usually get shows like this, so I thought, ‘No problem.’” 

What you don’t know about ‘The Last of Us’

We love a BTS moment, served up from Hollywood actors themselves. Peck was impressed with the production process from start to finish. For one, he didn’t receive many changes to his original script. “In the world of TV, you’ll probably get eight revisions of the script in a month. Because they are constantly making it better and constantly making adjustments,” Peck explained. 

The audition scene was almost identical to the updated script. Concerned that he had the wrong version and was practicing the wrong lines, he panicked and called the assistant director a day before filming. But the script stayed the same—no changes.

Craig Mazin, the show’s creator and executive producer, even poked fun at Peck at one point, saying, “What if I had changed everything on you last night?” To that Peck gleefully replied, “I was worried you did.” But to Peck’s appreciation, Mazin says that isn’t how he works, proving that a great script and a great set starts from the top.