HBO’s highly-anticipated television adaptation of Naughty Dog’s critically acclaimed video game “The Last of Us” is set to premiere on Sunday evening, and while the live-action version finds different performers filling the roles of the game’s characters, Merle Dandridge was tasked with reprising her role as Marlene in live-action form. An experience she admits was emotional and, at first, a little uncomfortable.
The series takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel (Pedro Pascal), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle a 14-year-old girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the U.S.