The HBO live-action adaptation of the award-winning The Last Of Us video game just added an actor who knows her way around the franchise.
Merle Dandridge–who provided the voice for Marlene in The Last Of Us game and its sequel–will reprise her role in the upcoming small-screen series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Dandridge joins Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) and Gabriel Luna (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) on the show–a co-production of Sony Pictures TV, PlayStation, Word Games, the Mighty Mint and Naughty Dog (the video game’s publisher).
Dandridge’s Marlene–in both the video game and the show–is the leader of the Fireflies, a resistance movement struggling for freedom against an oppressive military regime.
The adaptation–set 20 years after civilization has been destroyed–finds Joel (Pascal) smuggling 14-year-old Ellie (Ramsey) out of the quarantine zone. This job becomes a “brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.” In this scenario, Luna plays Tommy, Joel’s younger brother.
The series–directed by Jasmila Zbanic and Ali Abbasi–is expected to start shooting July 5 in Calgary, Alberta and wrap in June 2022. No debut date on HBO has been announced.
Neil Druckmann–the writer and creative director of the video game franchise–and Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) are handling the scripting chores.
The original The Last Of Us video game–which won several Game of the Year Awards–has sold more than 17 million units since its 2013 launch. The sequel–The Last Of Us Part II–debuted last June and sold more than four million units in its opening weekend.
Keep reading Horror News Network for the next update on The Last Of Us video game and HBO series.
