- The star of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Tati Gabrielle, says game director Neil Druckmann has been preparing her for online hate
- The actress says she is aware of the hate the The Last of Us: Part 2 cast received
- Gabrielle says she received hate after the first Intergalactic trailer was released for “being a woman, me being a woman of color, me having my head shaved…”
Tati Gabrielle, the star of Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, has revealed that director Neil Druckmann has been “bootcomp-ing me” for online hate.
Speaking in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gabrielle shared that she is aware of the hate The Last of Us: Part 2 cast members, like Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, and Troy Baker, received back in 2020 for their roles in the game, and that Druckmann has been preparing her for a similar situation.
“Neil’s been bootcamp-ing me,” Gabrielle said. “I know Troy’s experience, I know Ashley’s experience… I know Laura Bailey’s experience.”
When The Last of Us: Part 2 was released, Bailey received online hate and death threats against herself and her newborn son for playing the character Abby, who kills Joel Miller. After Intergalactic was officially announced last year alongside a trailer that revealed Gabrielle’s character, Jordan A Mun, the actress said she also received hate, including racist and misogynistic comments, for her role.
“I got a lot of love,” Gabrielle said, “but there was a lot of hate over me being a woman, me being a woman of color, me having my head shaved, all these things that I didn’t even actually initially see — I’m out of the social media zeitgeist for that reason — but once I did, Neil was like, ‘Ignore it. No matter what, me and you, we’re going to make something beautiful. We’re going to make something that we’re proud of.'”
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is Gabrielle’s first video game role, and she explained that she is preparing herself for the new venture.
“This is a world — video games — that I’ve never stepped into before. So I don’t want to put one thing in my mind of expecting it’s going to be this way and then it’s not, and then I’m unprepared or take it too lightly
Earlier this year, Druckmann revealed that Naughty Dog’s new game is “a game about faith and religion”. Gabrielle also discussed these themes in her interview with EW, but said it might not be what players expect.
“The question of faith is not black and white,” Gabrielle said. “When you initially think of faith, you think of religion, which is a part of it, but there’s also faith in oneself. There’s faith in your environment or your community. All that faith means is, ‘What are your beliefs? What are the things that you hope for? Faith sounds flowery, but we all experience it day in and day out. What is your reason for waking up?'”
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet has no release date yet, but we can expect the game to launch on PS5.
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