The highly-anticipated second season of The Last of Us will kick off production next month, and its cast is shaping up to be pretty amazing. Young Mazino and Isabela Merced are the latest stars to join HBO’s acclaimed adaptation of the best-selling video game.
Young Mazino, best known for his Emmy-nominated breakout role in Netflix’s mini-series Beef, will play Jesse, described as “a pillar of his community who puts everyone else’s needs before his own, sometimes at terrible cost.”
Isabela Merced, who got her big break with the titular role in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, is joining the series as Dina. She’s Jesse’s ex and the new love interest of Bella Ramsey’s Ellie, but Dina’s devotion to her will be tested by the brutality of the world they inhabit.
The news of Mazino and Merced’s casting comes just a few days after it was confirmed that Kaitlyn Dever will join the series in the role of Abby, one of the game’s most polarizing characters.
Season 2 of The Last of Us will kick off production this February in Vancouver, Canada, with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey returning in lead roles. This show’s first season recently won eight trophies at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, and it’s in the running for five more at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
