Josh Peck shocks fans with gritty 'Last of Us' cameo

Josh Peck, widely famous for his role on Drake & Josh, swapped laughs for chaos in a brief Last of Us cameo no one saw coming.

The former Nickelodeon star made a surprise cameo in Season 2, Episode 4, titled "Day One" of HBO’s live-action adaptation of the video game of the same name.

Spoiler Alert!

In the latest episode, set in a 2018 flashback, Peck, 38, portrays a FEDRA (Federal Disaster Response Agency) soldier named Janowitz.

A scene shows the soldiers being transported to a destination inside an armoured military vehicle when Peck delivers a darkly humourous and explicit monologue about a fellow soldier named Greenberg to his companions, including Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright) and Burton (Ben Ahlers).

The moment adds a layer of levity before a major plot twist occurs with Dixon betraying the group. After their conversation ends, the vehicle gets stopped on the street after pulling up to a school bus blocking the road, and a group of people starts approaching them.

Dixon, defying protocol, steps out to meet, asking Burton to flank him. Once outside, a woman named Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach) walks up, and the two identify themselves to each other before Dixon turns around and throws grenades into the vehicle, killing the rest of the soldiers — including Peck's character — inside.

All die except Burton, after which Dixon turns to him and challenges him to make a life-changing decision, "Now make your choice."

Peck's role as Janowitz is brief yet memorable, a nod to fans of the original The Last of Us video games, as the episode delves into the origins of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF), also known as the Wolves.

The flashback sequence featuring Peck and Ben Ahlers illustrates a significant turning point in the game's narrative.