Isabela Merced has joined the cast of HBO‘s The Last of Us. She is the last of three major additions for the upcoming second season of the post-apocalyptic drama based on the video game of the same name developed by Naughty Dog for PlayStation. The other two are recently cast Kaitlyn Dever as Abby and Young Mazino as Jesse.
Merced will play Dina, Ellie’s new romantic interest and Jesse’s ex. Dina is a free-wheeling spirit whose devotion to Ellie will be tested by the brutality of the world they inhabit.
“Dina is warm, brilliant, wild, funny, moral, dangerous and instantly lovable,” said Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us‘ co-creators, writers, executive producers and directors. “You can search forever for an actor who effortlessly embodies all of those things, or you can find Isabela Merced right away. We couldn’t be prouder to have her join our family.”
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In The Last of Us Part II game, which the TV series’ second season is based on, Dina is portrayed by Shannon Woodward.
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This marks a reunion for Dever and Merced who starred together in the 2022 movie Rosaline.
The Last of Us’ story takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel (Pedro Pascal), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
The cast of Season 1, which was shot in Calgary, Alberta, also included Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, Elaine Miles as Florence, Ashley Johnson as Anna, and Troy Baker as James.
As Deadline revealed in March, Season 2 will be filmed in Vancouver as a significant part of the story in The Last of Us Part II video game is set in the Pacific Northwest. Production on the series, a co-production between HBO and Sony Pictures Television, is slated to begin in February.
The Last of Us is written and executive produced by Mazin and Druckmann. Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam also executive produce.
Merced, known for playing the title role in Dora and the Lost City of Gold and starring opposite Jason Momoa in Sweet Girl, voiced a character in the recent animated release Migration. She is in a string of high-profile upcoming films, including Sony’s Madame Web, the Fede Alvarez-helmed Alien: Romulus, action thriller Ballerina Overdrive, Hannah Marks’ Turtles All the Way Down and DC’s Superman: Legacy. She is repped by CAA and Peikoff Mahan.