Merle Dandridge talks about Marlene and Anna’s friendship in The Last of Us

The HBO adaptation of the Naughty Dog video game The Last of Us successfully completed its first season, and it was a roaring success. It broke a number of records on Sunday, when the season finale aired, surpassing the likes of House of The Dragon in terms of overall viewership. The episode begins with Anna, Ellie’s mother, explaining how Ellie is immune in the first place.

Were there any details about Anna and Marlene’s past in The Last of Us video game?

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Merle Dandridge, who played the role of Marlene in both the game and the TV show, recalled how she was pleasantly surprised when she reprised her role. She was also happy that she got to explore Marlene and Anna’s past in the Season 1 finale. Dandridge said, “Actually killing Anna was not in my backstory, but it was right for this version. In the backstory that I had created, Marlene was there when Anna died.”

“Marlene’s dying promise to her best friend is the last manifestation of any mirror that can reflect back to her who she was before the outbreak and before she became a rebel leader. It’s the only tether to her life of having family and love, and having grown up together and going through what they’ve gone through all these years, it adds another level of unconscionable heartbreak to have had that experience. But in the present day, it gives the audience a more emotional attachment to the struggle that Marlene is having within herself, and even though she is a steely soldier, she is indeed cleaved in two by this choice.”

Is Merle Dandridge the only actor to reprise her role from The Last of Us video game?

Yes, Dandridge is the only actor who played the same character in both The Last of Us TV show and the video game. She recalled in the interview, “I got a phone call from Neil Druckmann and he said, “Merle, it is my great honor to cast you again as Marlene.” I think he said that it was for the third or fourth time, but it was actually the fifth time. (Laughs.)”

What can we expect from The Last of Us Season 2?

Showrunner Craig Mazin teased the reporters about what’s to come in Season 2, “Sometimes it will be different radically and sometimes it will be barely different at all, but it’s going to be different and it will be its own thing. It won’t be exactly like the game. It will be the show that Neil and I want to make. We are making it with Bella.”