‘Beef’ star Young Mazino will star as Jesse, with Kaitlyn Dever as Abby and Isabella Merced as Dina, in HBO’s live-action series adaptation of the fan favorite zombie shooter.
HBO is finally revealing the cast of The Last of Us Season 2! Kaitlyn Dever will star as Abby, the multifaceted villain audiences will love to hate, alongside fellow newcomers Young Mazino (Beef) as the infallibly good Jesse and Isabella Merced (Madame Web) as the free spirit Dina.
“Our casting process for Season 2 has been identical to Season 1: we look for world-class actors who embody the souls of the characters in the source material,” said series co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann to Variety. “Nothing matters more than talent, and we’re thrilled to have an acclaimed performer like Kaitlyn join Pedro, Bella and the rest of our family.”
The first season, based on the critically acclaimed PlayStation-exclusive horror franchise widely labeled as one of the best video games of all time, aired last year to a whopping 96% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. The series also picked up 8 awards, including Outstanding Special Visual Effects in A Season or A Movie at the recent Creative Arts Emmys.
The Last of Us centers around protagonists Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they band together to survive in a post-pandemic world. The courageous duo must fend off enemies infected by the cordyceps virus called clickers in their search for remaining humanity. At its core, the series is a classic zombie tale following the fallout of a widespread deadly disease. The season also starred Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandridge, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Jeffrey Pierce, Anna Torv, and Melanie Lynskey.
Druckmann, co-president of video game studio Naughty Dog, serves as co-creator and executive producer alongside Mazin (Chernobyl). Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam executive produce. Kantemir Balagov, Jasmila Žbanić, Ali Abbasi, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, and Liza Johnson direct. The series is produced in collaboration between Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint and Naughty Dog.
For Season 1’s 10 episodes, approximately 3,000 visual effects shots were created by DNEG, Wētā FX, Distillery VFX, Zero VFX, Important Looking Pirates, beloFX, Storm Studios, Wylie Co., RVX, Assembly, Crafty Apes, UPP, RISE, Framestore, Digital Domain and MAS.
The Last of Us Season 1 streams now on Max.
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