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‘The Last of Us’ Star Isabela Merced on Dina and Ellie’s Romance, Getting That Sex Scene Right and LGBTQ Representation: ‘No One Actually Thinks I’m Queer’
'The Last of Us' star Isabela Merced breaks down Episode 4: Dina and Ellie's sex scene, Dina's pregnancy, crying during "Take On Me," the subway scene.
When Isabela Merced met with “The Last of Us” creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, she was familiar with the source material for the second season of the HBO drama, the video game “The Last of Us Part II” — but she had no idea what role they had in mind for her. Mazin and Druckmann immediately cast her as Dina — the Jackson-based best friend and love interest of Ellie (Bella Ramsey) — and Merced remembers thinking, “Oh my God, this is so much bigger than I thought!” Merced, who is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, began acting as a child, and has starred in movies such as 2019’s “Dora and the Lost City of Gold” and 2024’s “Alien: Romulus.” In a far-ranging interview, Merced discussed working with the show’s intimacy coordinator on Dina and Ellie’s first time having sex with each other, why the subway car sequence necessitated her developing a “secret sign language” with Ramsey — and what the show’s LGBTQ representation means for her as a queer actor.
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