Fans of HBO’s adaptation of Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic games are getting all the updates that they want this week. Following the announcement that Young Mazino will play Jesse and Kaitlyn Dever will play Abby, Isabela Merced has been cast as Dina in The Last of Us season 2.
In the sequel that the second season will adapt, Dina (Shannon Woodward in the game) is the love interest for Ellie (Bella Ramsey in the series and Ashley Johnson in the game). The game sees the evolution of their relationship from having the relative safety of their town, Jackson, to going out to Washington for Ellie’s plan for revenge.
The Last of Us Season 2 Finds Its Dina With Isabela Merced
Isabela Merced being cast in The Last of Us shows her rising star power and gravitational pull toward major IP. She first got recognition for her supporting role in Sicario: Day of the Soldado, the sequel to the Denis Villeneuve film. She landed her first significant leading role in the live-action Dora the Explorer movie, Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Now, she is either working on or worked on big projects like Alien: Romulus, Superman: Legacy, and Madame Web.
The first season of the HBO series was an adaptation of the 2013 game by PlayStation studio Naughty Dog. The second season will start to take on the 2020 sequel. The co-creator of the series, Craig Mazin, previously confirmed that tackling this massive revenge story will take multiple seasons to complete. It is unknown how far into the second game the second season will go before it is cut off for season 3.
Due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last year, many productions were delayed. We will have to wait until 2025 to see Isabela Merced in The Last of Us season 2.
