Posted in: HBO, TV | Tagged: the last of us

The Last of Us S02: Kate Herron, Video Game Fan & Episode Director

Kate Herron on her love for The Last of Us video game franchise and how it inspired her approach to directing the Season 2 episode, "Day One."

Director Kate Herron knows a thing or two about the responsibility of handling a major IP, helming season one of Marvel's Loki on Disney+. It was also around that time that another IP caught her eye when she stumbled upon Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, the iconic franchise for Sony's PlayStation platforms, with the original game being released in 2013 and its sequel, Part II, released in 2020. As season one of the HBO adaptation from creators Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann, the network came calling for Herron to board season two and direct its latest episode, "Day One," which aired on May 4th. Herron spoke to Variety about bringing the main protagonists Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabella Merced) together at last after a couple of near-death experiences and consummating their love at an abandoned movie theater, and the much-anticipated introduction of Part II's Isaac Dixon with Jeffrey Wright reprising his role he voiced from the game.

The Last of Us: Kate Herron on Video Game's Impact

As far as how she stumbled upon Druckmann's franchise, "I was obsessed with it. During lockdown, I bought a PlayStation, and I remember texting my friends, 'OK, what should I play?' So I played the first game, and the second game had just come out. It just completely redefined for me what a game could be like, even things like the people that you attack have names," Heron said. "It was such a clever exploration of empathy and cycles of violence. I thought the storytelling was some of the best I had experienced in any art form."

Upon hearing the news of the second season, Herron saw the perfect opportunity. "Then I watched the TV show, and I was blown away, so when they were doing the second season, I was like, I have to see if they'll meet me. I mean, look, I almost dressed as Ellie for my Zoom meeting," she said. "I remember showing them I had a vinyl of the music from the game and the TV show. I was so nervous, I was really early, and Neil was also early, so I had this moment to talk to Neil before everyone else joined the call. And I remember thinking, 'You know what, if I don't get this job, at least I got to talk to Neil Druckmann.' It's very different to other stuff I've done. I tend to do drama-comedy, so it was fun for me as a challenge to really dig my teeth into something that was a heavier."

Herron broke down how she would bring them together officially. One of the scenes recreated was when Ellie played a rendition of A-Ha's "Take on Me" on an acoustic guitar. "You don't often get moments to give characters a breath or relief, which is so important here, like in the music shop in Seattle. Who hasn't wanted to play a song to their crush? Just getting to see them joking as they're going through the streets, it was really important for me to remember, in spite of it all, these are two very young people in a terrible situation. Also, it was important that people wouldn't necessarily be able to guess that Dina does actually have feelings for Ellie. In the music shop, they do have this great chemistry, but when Dina thinks Ellie is infected, she doesn't know about Ellie's immunity. So it was really important that we were afraid for Ellie in that moment, right up until the point of the kiss."

When it comes to Wright, there wasn't much as far as notes that Herron was going to offer since the actor already voiced the character and brought a physical form now in the live-action incarnation. "I love Jeffrey as an actor. I mean, I always go in with respect for any actor, but yes, I'm not going to tell Jeffrey extensive things about a character that he's already played and knows so well," she said. "It was just really important to be there with him in those scenes. Does this feel emotionally true? Why don't we try this and just make sure that we had different options?"

As far as the choice to introduce the character as a member of FEDRA before his shocking turn on his squad, "The real key thing there is that we have this rookie [played by Ben Ahlers], who, yes, knows a bit more than the audience knows, but they're on the back foot and trying to work out how they feel in this world," Herron said. "It's about POV, putting you with the rookie from the beginning, because it feeds into the bigger theme of the show, which is about choice. But I think it's OK that the audience has questions. "OK, who exactly are these people? Who is Isaac?" Because we are going to gradually tell you more and more."

For more on Herron talking about working with an intimacy coordinator for Ramsey and Merced's love scene and for Wright and Ryan Masson's interrogation scene, and an update on The Sims film, you can check out the entire interview. The Last of Us airs Sundays on HBO and is available to stream on Max.

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