One of the most heart-wrenching moments of The Last of Us season 1 occurred at the end of the fifth episode, entitled “Endure and Survive.” The episode deals significantly with side character Henry (Lamar Johnson) and his kid brother Sam (Keivonn Montreal Woodard), a deaf, artistic eight-year-old with leukemia. Of course, young Elle (Bella Ramsey) feels a connection with the kid since she’s just spent weeks traveling the country with a very crotchety Joel (Pedro Pascal).
Unfortunately for Elle and for audiences, Sam reveals to her during the episode’s final moments that he’s been bitten by one of the Infected creatures who are slowly wiping out humanity. Elle decides to stay up all night with the boy and wait for him to change into an Infected himself. Unfortunately, a zombified Sam still gets the drop on her, leading his older brother to fatally shoot the boy and then himself out of grief.
Yep, the show’s a real upper.
But here’s some better news: Woodard, who is deaf in real life, just became the youngest person nominated for an Emmy for Guest Actor in a Drama Series. According to Entertainment Weekly, the nod also makes Woodard the second-youngest Emmy nominee of all time. The first is The Cosby Show actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, who was nominated when she was only six years old.
On HBO’s The Last of Us podcast, showrunner Craig Mazin said Woodard is an “astonishing” actor. He explained further:
“I have never been in a circumstance where a kid, who has never really acted on film before, shows up and is so naturally good at it. He was a joy to have around, and a total dream. He’s incredible, and I cannot wait to see more from him. I hope that when people watch this episode, they don’t just stop at the end of it and go, ‘Boy, that kid was really good playing the character of Sam.’ I hope that they go, ‘That kid ought to be in a lot of things.'”
Thankfully, this nomination almost guarantees the actor will have further roles in which to excel. Congratulations to Woodard, but we haven’t forgiven him yet for traumatizing us.