Isabela Merced Says ‘Last of Us’ Co-Star Kaitlyn Dever Needed Extra Security on ‘The Last of Us’ Set Due to Fan Hate

With a resume that includes Madame Web , Alien: Romulus , Superman: Legacy and The Last of Us , Isabela Merced is used to dealing with a devoted fandom on her projects. However, she has reiterated the importance of remembering that those stories and characters are fictional.

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While making an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Merced talked about filming the second season of The Last of Us , in which she is set to portray Dina, a character known to fans from The Last of Us: Part II game.

Horowitz mentions her co-star Kaitlyn Dever, who is also joining the show in the coming season, portrays the character Abby, who “does some things that people don’t necessarily approve of” in the video game. Given fans’ negative feelings about Abby, Merced shared that her co-star “had to be extra secured by security” while filming.

“There are people that genuinely hate Abby, who is not a real person,” Merced said. She went on to describe Dever as “such a cool person” who “does not get phased by things” and “has her head in the right place.”

“Give her the damn Emmy honestly. I’m so excited for people to see how incredibly well Bella [Ramsey] and Kaitlyn did on this,” she said of her co-stars.

With the second season almost done filming, Merced teased that she’s most excited for fans to see the romance between Dina and Ramsey’s character Ellie. “It brings a tear to my eye,” she said, adding that she has “a whole playlist for Dina and Ellie.” She pinpointed a song by Adrian Linker that she would play on set that would “set the tone” for the pair.

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Despite playing a romantic interest to Ellie, Merced revealed that she actually didn’t screen-test with Ramsey for the role. Instead, she recalled having a “generic meeting” with creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann where they mentioned the character to her. “I guess they decided there and then that they wanted me. So that’s wild. I don’t even think I believe in myself that much,” she said.

In addition to The Last of Us season two, Merced is also set to star as Hawkgirl in Superman: Legacy , James Gunn’s forthcoming DCU reboot.

When reflecting on dealing with fandoms and the pressures that come as a result, Merced emphasized she isn’t phased given “you’re not going to make everyone happy” and it’s a “common thing in art” to accept that “not everyone’s going to enjoy it.”

“My job is to just be prepared and know things and more than anything know about my own character,” she said. Merced went on to say that while committed to her work she gets “as obsessed as the nerds do. I become one of them in the sense that I want to know everything.”

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