Summary
- Isabela Merced responds to backlash against The Last of Us Season 2.
- The controversial casting of Bella Ramsey, Kaitlyn Dever, and Isabela Merced led to debates.
- Some audiences are concerned about the changes in character backgrounds and appearances.
The Last of Us season 2 actor Isabela Merced addresses the backlash to season 2. Merced is slated to play Dina, a character from The Last of Us: Part II video game, in the sophomore season of the hit HBO show. She joins The Last of Us season 2 leading cast that includes returning actors Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, along with new stars Kaitlyn Dever, Jeffrey Wright, Catherine O'Hara, and Young Mazino.
Speaking with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Merced addresses the controversy surrounding The Last of Us season 2.
On the podcast, Horowitz prompts Merced to speak about all the vitriol online that has been spurred already by The Last of Us season 2. In response, Merced questions "why are you mad?" in response to this kind of hate-filled backlash. The Dina actor points out that "the showrunner and the creator of the video game," Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, collaborated to make The Last of Us. The actor says that this kind of rhetoric "really pisses [her] off." Check out the full quote from Merced below:
What confuses me is like, the showrunner and the creator of the video game, they work together to make this. So, if you like what the guy made, and he's making more of it, why are mad? You know what I mean. I don't know, I'm too opinionated to be on Twitter, it really pisses me off, because I see this stuff, and it makes me want to go Cardi B on them.
The Last of Us Season 2 Backlash Explained
The Casting Has Caused Controversy
Though Horowitz keeps it vague when addressing The Last of Us season 2 backlash, the majority of the dissent has surrounded the casting. These debates have been primarily aimed at the three young female characters who will be central to season 2. Some people have taken issue with the fact that Ramsey will return to their Ellie role despite the character being aged up five years (from 14 to 19). In reality, Ramsey is 20 years old, but the actor's young appearance has led some to think that they should have been recast.
Hopefully, the season 2 performances from Dever, Ramsey, and Merced will be strong enough to squash some of the unnecessary backlash.
Dever and Merced's casting as Abby and Dina, respectively, has also caused some audiences to be concerned. As Horowitz and Merced discuss in more detail in the next segment of the podcast, Abby herself was controversial in The Last of Us: Part II video game. For the show, some believe Dever's appearance is different from Abby in the game, who is a notably strong young woman. As for Dina, the character in the game is of Jewish/Israeli heritage, while Merced is Peruvian-American.
These controversies will make it such that some people will already have a vendetta against The Last of Us season 2 going into its 2025 release. Merced makes a good point, however, that Naughty Dog's Druckmann works on the show himself, so these decisions did not just come as a result of Mazin blindly overriding the game's canon. Horowitz also expressed a desire for people to just "let the great actors act." Hopefully, the season 2 performances from Dever, Ramsey, and Merced will be strong enough to squash some of the unnecessary backlash.
