Home Interviews Exclusive: The Last of Us Part II Game Actor Hopes for Role in HBO Series

Ian Alexander, star of the new Casper Van Dien film Daughter, says he’s excited to see where season 2 of The Last of Us goes.

Dark Star Pictures

In addition to co-starring in Netflix’s acclaimed series The OA, Ian Alexander has also branched out into several other cool universes, such as The Last of Us video-game series and even in an upcoming Marvel animated series. While dishing on his latest film Daughter, which also stars Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers), Alexander revealed that he’s been watching HBO’s new zombie-laced series after voicing the character Lev in The Last of Us: Part II video game.

“I’ve been telling all my friends to watch this show,” Alexander recently told MovieWeb. “It’s been so cool seeing how they have diverged from the game in some ways, but then also stayed really true, like word for word, moment to moment, from the game as well. And so far, I’ve been really pleased with all the changes that have been made. I feel like it’s added to the story, and it makes sense. So I’m really happy with how the show is turning out, and I’m really excited that [the show] got picked up for season 2 because hopefully, I’ll get to be a part of season 2.”

In the meantime, Alexander has a starring role in a new film. From Dark Star Pictures, Daughter is a frightening psychological thriller that follows a young woman (Ngô) who gets kidnapped and inducted into a bizarre family as their new surrogate “daughter.” As she navigates through this twisted dynamic, awful secrets about the past are revealed and lead to even darker implications about the future. Shot on 16mm film with a predominantly Vietnamese cast, Alexander’s new starring vehicle is a uniquely diverse and genre-bending tale in the vein of Dogtooth and even 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Starring in a Unique Project and Joining Marvel

Alexander has played his fair share of interesting characters, but his role as “Brother” in the film Daughter perhaps takes the cake. “Brother has grown up in a really, really sheltered environment,” Alexander told MovieWeb. “So he’s very innocent. He doesn’t know anything outside of what he’s been taught. He has a very limited worldview. And I can really relate to that in a lot of ways. I grew up, like, really religious. Both of my parents are Mormon. And so I was pulling a lot of inspiration from my childhood for this character. And [Brother] is curious, he loves to learn. But he also is intelligent enough to know that anytime someone new comes in, that he’s told that they’re bad, that they’re sick, that they need to be kept quarantined away from the rest of the family until they’re safe enough to join. So he’s also cautious of new ideas and wants so strongly to appease his father [played by Casper That’s all he wants, is just the approval from his parents. And he’s noticed that his mother kind of just goes with whatever his father says. His father calls the shots and makes the rules. And [Brother] doesn’t really have any friends or community outside of his family. So his family is his main source of socializing and support.”

Related: HBO’s The Last of Us: How Episode 3 Tells a Perfect Love Story

And given the film’s open-ended conclusion (without giving too much away), Alexander says he’d be interested in joining a possible sequel down the line. “It was a really special experience to be able to film this movie, especially with so many AAPI cast and crew,” he told MovieWeb. “It was definitely the most diverse set that I’ve ever been on. Like, I looked around, and I was like, ‘Oh! It’s, like, mostly other Asian people.’ And a lot of people from the LGBTQ community, a lot of women on set, like mostly women of color. So it just felt like a really supportive, community-driven environment that I would love more of.”

Looking ahead, Alexander mentioned that he’s excited to see his supporting role in an upcoming Marvel animated series that will air on Disney+, called Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. “I am playing one of the classmates of the main character Lunella,” he told MovieWeb. “And they’re on the volleyball team together, and it’s a really cute show. It’s also really timely. The first episode, there are themes of, the community’s kind of dealing with a recession, and local businesses are closing down, and their electricity is being taken away from them. So they have to literally get their power back. And so it’s just this really beautiful community-oriented episode. The soundtrack is great. It looks amazing. So I’m really excited for people to see that. And I’ve been telling people, ‘When Moon Girl comes out, watch an episode of that after you watch The Last of Us, as like a light-hearted palate cleanser.’ After the sad, heartbreaking grief of The Last of Us, you can have some light-hearted fun with Moon Girl.”

Daughter is in select theaters, on Digital and On Demand as of February 10, 2023