Lamar Johnson began learning the American Sign language via Zoom shortly after arriving in Calgary, and spent his time away from set learning the language. He did not want viewers to think his knowledge of the language was fake, and considered his performance important for deaf representation. He felt spending time around Keivonn Montreal Woodard for production gave him a better grasp on the language; Woodard would sometimes correct his mistakes in scenes. Bella Ramsey similarly learned ASL during production.
Craig Mazin wrote Sam as deaf from the game, to avoid his relationship with Henry feeling repetitious of Ellie's with Joel, which he felt would have been emphasized due to the different perspectives of the series. He had been watching the television series This Close (2018) which follows two deaf characters and felt it may have influenced his decision. He found it automatically introduced intimacy to the scenes due to their quietness, which contrasted with Ellie's talkative nature. Neil Druckmann was instantly drawn to the idea and wished he had included it in the game.
Bella Ramsey felt Sam brought out Ellie's childlike energy, which she largely attributed to Keivonn Montreal Woodard.
The production team faced difficulties in casting Sam, they were met with minimal candidates. In February 2021, Craig Mazin distributed a casting call for a boy aged 8-14 who is deaf, black and proficient in American Sign Language (ASL) or Black American Sign Language; Deaf West Theatre confirmed this was for the character of Sam. He had expected to receive around 80 auditions, but ultimately got about five, including Keivonn Montreal Woodard, it was his first acting role.
Jason Ritter: Ritter, who is the real-life husband of Melanie Lynskey, was one of the Clickers in the climatic scene of the episode.