Posted in: HBO, Preview, TV | Tagged: Bella Ramsey, HBO, Merle Dandridge, naughty dog, Pedro Pascal, the last of us

The Last of Us: Merle Dandridge on Returning as Marlene for HBO Series

Merle Dandridge discussed returning as Marlene for HBO's The Last of Us & what it's like reprising their role from the Naughty Dog video game.

If there's one thing the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us is able to expand upon the original 2013 Naughty Dog video game is the Cordyceps fungal infection that caused the apocalypse. Given the game's original popularity on Sony's PlayStation 3, ND not only remastered the game for PlayStation 4 in 2014 but also released Part II in 2020 for PS4 and a Part I remake in 2022 for PlayStation 5. For the HBO adaptation from Craig Mazin and Neil Druckman (who also directed the original game), some of the voice-over actors from the original PS3 game were retained, including main stars Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson, Jeffrey Pierce, and Merle Dandridge. Dandridge, who plays Marlene (reprising her role from the game), spoke with Slashfilm about returning to the franchise.

How Merle Dandridge Evolves Marlene in HBO's 'The Last of Us'

"My approach as an artist to any character is very similar. I think one of the gifts that this process has offered me is 10 years of getting to know her." Dandridge said. "My imagination, which is already running rampant, running even more wild of how she got to where she is, what built this stalwart woman that we know and we've gotten to know." The HBO incarnation also offers the kind of depth and nuance the game didn't afford her. "I've had the great opportunity of maturing as an artist and then maturing in the physical so that I was even more appropriate to play her in front of the camera. And that my 10, 15 years of Broadway and voiceover work before meeting Marlene first, and then now 10 years in front of the camera and the television world, all those things conflated and met and combined and aligned to make this the appropriate fit right now."

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey play Joel and Ellie in the HBO series originally played by Baker and Johnson in the 2013 game, now in supporting roles of James and Anna. James is a senior member of a group of settlers, while Anna is Ellie's mother. Pierce, who played Tommy in the game, will play Pierce, an original character for the series. When we meet Marlene in the game, she's injured but tasks Joel to look after Ellie and take her to the Fireflies since the teen harbors a secret that may be the key to help with the Cordyceps pandemic. For more on how Marlene factors into the new series, you can check out the whole interview here. The Last of Us premieres on January 15.

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