The Last of Us Season 2 has found its Dina in Isabela Merced. Throughout this week, HBO has been announcing a number of new cast members for The Last of Us with filming for Season 2 preparing to kick off this coming month. Currently, Kaitlyn Dever and Young Mazino have been announced to join the show and will be playing Abby and Jesse respectively. Now, Merced has become the latest actress to join the series and its expanding roster.
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Announced today by HBO and Naughty Dog, Merced was confirmed to join The Last of Us in Season 2 as Dina. Previously, Merced is likely most well known for her roles in Transformers: The Last Knight and Dora and the Lost City of Gold, in addition to her forthcoming appearance in Madame Web. For those who haven’t played The Last of Us Part II, Dina ends up becoming a new love interest for Ellie and travels with her throughout her latest adventure. She’s also the ex of Jesse, which makes for an interesting and complicated situation that plays out between Dina, Ellie, and Jesse.
“Dina is warm, brilliant, wild, funny, moral, dangerous and instantly lovable,” said showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann in a unified statement. “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.”
As of now, many of the most prominent characters for The Last of Us Season 2 seem to have been cast. The Last of Us Part II video game does feature some other notable characters such as Owen, Yara, and Lev that all will surely appear in the TV adaptation as well. However, showrunner Craig Mazin has previously indicated that it could take multiple seasons to fully tell the story of The Last of Us Part II in a televised format. As such, it’s now known if some of these other integral characters will end up making their debuts in Season 2.
Currently, filming for Season 2 of The Last of Us is set to begin in February and will continue throughout 2024. HBO hasn’t yet provided a specific date or window when The Last of Us will be returning, but it’s known that Season 2 won’t debut until some point in 2025.