When creating Ellie in The Last of Us, Bella Ramsay did not consult the source material or get acquainted with the Naughty Dog game. A different approach was taken by Isabela Merced, who completed The Last of Us Part II in one weekend.
Earlier this year, HBO and PlayStation introduced new actors for The Last of Us. The company has hired Kaitlyn Dever, Young Masino and Isabela Merced – all the stars have already hit the set as the first footage of the second season began filming this week.
The second season will be dedicated to events of The Last of Us Part II, which forced Isabela Merced to prepare for the role of Dinah. After receiving a call from the creators of the series, the actress quickly got acquainted with the source material – in one weekend she spent about 25 hours on the PlayStation 5 to complete the entire game, playing as Ellie and Joel.
< p>“When I got the call that the creators wanted to meet me, I thought, “Okay, I need to play the game first.” I had already watched the series, so I went to a friend's house and beat the game in one weekend on PS5. It was amazing. The passage lasted 25 hours. It was crazy, but a lot of fun. I really liked the second part, but I haven’t played the first one yet. Only in the second.”