Who Plays Seth In The Last Of Us Season 2

Ed Tucker and Seth in front of the Jackson settlement in The Last of Us

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This article contains a discussion of suicide.

This article contains spoilers for the season 2 premiere of “The Last of Us.”

In the season 2 premiere of HBO’s massive hit series “The Last of Us” — based on Naughty Dog’s critically-acclaimed video game “The Last of Us Part II” — we reunite with Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) and his surrogate daughter Ellie (Bella Ramsey) five years after the first season concluded. They’re living peacefully in the heavily protected settlement in Jackson, Wyoming. Though we don’t know exactly why at first, there’s considerable enmity between Joel and Ellie, despite the closeness of their relationship. As a result, both of them have been spending more time with Dina (Isabela Merced) — albeit separately — and during a party celebrating the new year, Dina and Ellie shared an unexpected moment … and kiss.

That moment is unfortunately interrupted by a Jackson resident named Seth who owns the local bar. After criticizing them for doing this during a “family event,” he calls them a homophobic slur, sending Joel into action. After Joel shoves Seth, Ellie yells at him for helping, and the ugly scene comes to a close. Seth also appears in the game, but who plays him in live action?

That would be Robert John Burke, a total “that guy” actor who’s been in a ton of movies and TV shows throughout his long career. Here are just a few other shows where you’ve seen him before.

Burke played Bart Bass on Gossip Girl

The CW

“Gossip Girl” is a delightfully unhinged show, and I really do say that with all of the love in my heart. As the “teenagers” played by obvious 25-year-olds cavort around New York City, illegally drink at upscale cocktail bars, betray each other constantly, and buy hotels before they turn 21, their parents are also part of the action. Robert John Burke played Bart Bass, the billionaire father of Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), brief husband to Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), and stepfather to her kids Serena (Blake Lively) and Eric (Connor Paolo). After marrying Lily in the season 1 finale of the deeply dramatic CW show, Bart ends up “dying” in a car accident in season 2, devastating Chuck and leaving the door open for Lily to finally reunite with her long-lost love Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle).

I put “dying” in quotes because “Gossip Girl” is basically a soap opera, and Bart, as it turns out, isn’t dead at all. The wealthy and obviously evil real estate mogul (hmm…) returns in season 5, explaining to Chuck that he faked his death after finding out a competitor planned to murder him. (I really don’t think the real estate world is quite that cutthroat, but who knows?) Bart eventually turns on Chuck and tries to kill his own son, and when Chuck’s on-again, off-again love Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) gets involved, Bart also tries to kill her. The couple end up pushing Bart off of a rooftop, and while they’re on the run from authorities, they get married to avoid testifying against each other. Then the entire show ends! Burke definitely has some fun as Bart, though; he gets to stand around ominously drinking scotch and growling his lines for a lot of the series.

Burke also played Ed Tucker on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Tucker and Benson holding hands with Noah on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

NBC Universal

Just like so many New York City-based actors before him, Robert John Burke did his time in the “Law & Order” universe, and he actually stuck around for quite a while. Starting in 2002, Burke started playing the recurring role of Ed Tucker on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. So, who is Ed Tucker? He works at the Internal Affairs Bureau, so initially, he’s basically an antagonist for SVU detectives like Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). Eventually, though, Olivia gets to know Tucker, and the two even start a romantic relationship in the show’s 17th season.

Sadly, Tucker’s story ends tragically on “Special Victims Unit.” He and Olivia split up in season 18, realizing they want vastly different things for their futures, but clearly still respect each other and end things on good terms. When Olivia hears that Tucker is retiring — and got married after their breakup — she attends a party to celebrate his NYPD career, but learns that he’s suffering from a brain tumor. Tucker ultimately dies by suicide and leaves a note saying that he didn’t want his wife to watch his condition get worse and worse. It’s a heartbreaking end, but Burke got a phenomenal run on the series.

“The Last of Us,” which features Burke, airs new episodes every Sunday night at 9 P.M. on HBO and Max.

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