Merle Dandridge to Reprise Role of Marlene in ‘The Last of Us’ TV Series
Merle Dandridge has been given the opportunity not a lot of actors get offered – she will be reprising her role as Marlene from The Last of Us video game in the TV adaption for HBO.
Marlene will likely be a recurring character throughout the season, as she only really appears in the first and final acts of the original game, but nevertheless she is of critical importance to the story, with a personal connection to Bella Ramsey’s Ellie.
It’s official: @MerleDandridge will star as Marlene in THE LAST OF US for HBO, reprising her role from the game. pic.twitter.com/dyXIO0vO19
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) May 27, 2021
It’s rare that voice actors get to reprise their role in live-action adaptions: neither Camille Luddington nor Keeley Hawes were asked to portray Lara Croft in a Tomb Raider film, while Nolan North was overlooked to play Nathan Drake in the Uncharted film in favour of Tom Holland. Of course, in these cases Hollywood was looking to cast star names to generate interest. While Alicia Vikander is still an up-and-coming actress, Angelina Jolie is a household name, and Tom Holland is a current heart throb after his turn as Spider-Man and various smaller films since.
HBO seemingly has little interest in bankable names, and has mostly plumped for actors who are less of a household name: Pedro Pascal is the most well-known actor of the lot and a fantastic choice as main protagonist Joel Miller, but aside from the actor’s recent turn as the villain in Wonder Woman 1984, he is perhaps best known for three seasons on Narcos as cool DEA agent Javier Peña and a single season on Game of Thrones as the electric Oberyn Martell. Bella Ramsey seems an excellent choice to play Ellie as well, but her most high profile role was a small recurring character in Game of Thrones.
Gabriel Luna will play Joel’s brother, Tommy, but his most prominent roles are arguably as Robbie Reyes/Ghost Rider on Agents of SHIELD and the villain in the maligned Terminator: Dark Fate. It all points to a more mature casting process, opting for the right actors rather than big names.
It also opens up the question of whether certain other actors will also get invited to reprise their roles in the future. Jeffrey Wright voices a notable in character in The Last of Us: Part II, and as an actor who frequently pops up in HBO series, you would think he will be invited back too if The Last of Us gets renewed for a second season.
The Last of Us TV series is expected to air sometime in 2022. Neil Druckmann, who wrote and directed both games, will act as co-writer and executive producer for the series along with Craig Mazin, who created Chernobyl and also penned the upcoming Borderlands film, which is now shooting.
Josh is a huge a fan of Star Wars, superheroes and video games. He spends most of his time wondering who would win in a fight between Boba Fett and Star Lord.
