HBO’s The Last of US television adaptation will see one of the major voice actors reprise her role in the flesh in a wonderful nod to fans of the Naughty Dog game.
Variety reports Merle Dandrige has signed on to play antagonist Marlene in the small screen version having provided the dulcet tones for the original video game.
Marlene, of course, was the conflicted Firefly Commander who *SPOILERS* eventually attempted to ensure Ellie underwent surgery with the hopes of developing a vaccine to protect against the infected. She also appears in the flashback scenes in the sequel The Last of Us 2 title.
The casting provides a rare opportunity for a celebrated voice actor to play the same character in the TV or movie adaptation.
Dandridge also appeared in Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End as Sister Catherine, A Nun. She’s pretty used to roles in post-apocolyptic games having also appeared also in Everyone’s Gone To The Rapture, for which she won a BAFTA, and Half-Life 2.
Beyond her work in the video game industry, she’s an accomplished Broadway theatre actress. Most recently you may have seen her as FBI agent Kim Hammond in HBO Max’s devilishly fun The Flight Attendant.
Dandridge will join a star-studded cast for The Last of Us. Pedro Pascal of The Mandalorian and Game of Thrones fame plays Joel, Bella Ramsey, the incredible young noblewoman Lyanna Mormont in GoT, plays Ellie and Gabriel Luna from Marvel’s Agent’s Of S.H.I.E.L.D is Tommy.
Naughty Dog’s creative director Neil Druckmann is executive producing the series too. Production is currently underway with the show set to air in 2022. Of all the current video game properties optioned by the studios, we’re most excited by this one.
There’s also a live-action Fallout, a few Resident Evil adaptations and a Halo series in development too. What a time for video game fans! Let’s hope they all live up to expectations. Any more of the best PS5 games you’d like to see hit the TV screens?
