If you have played The last of us and watching HBO’s TV adaptation, you’ve probably seen a few characters on this week’s episode and wondered, “Who the hell are these people?” That’s because those characters weren’t in the original game, but there are a reason you might think you recognized one of them since he’s being portrayed by an actor from the game.
Who is Kathleen?
Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey, Yellow jackets) is one of the original characters created for the HBO adaptation. However, the existence of a character like her could have been inferred from the game, as she acts as a leader for the hunters who attack Joel and Ellie in Kansas City using methods identical to the hunters who attack them in the Pittsburgh game. While the change of location hasn’t been a major factor in the show so far, Kathleen nonetheless adds some human depth and drama to the game’s once faceless group of enemies. As we see in episode four, Kathleen and her cohorts brought down the Kansas City branch of FEDRA, the post-apocalyptic law enforcement agency The last of us‘ universe, but she still holds grudges against people who sold her brother to government forces, even mentioning that he was killed by FEDRA soldiers in a holding cell, where she is interrogating a local doctor.
She’s looking for information about Henry, a prominent character from the game who we don’t meet until the end of the episode, but fans of the game know that he and his brother Sam are going to play a pretty important role in what’s to come next week. Kathleen believes Henry is responsible for her brother’s death, so it will be interesting to see how the show alters his story to fit hers, since in the source material the brothers were just driving through Pittsburgh, where there are now some personal connections seems to be between them and the hunters in Kansas City. We’ll most likely learn more about her in next week’s episode as well.
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Who is Perry?
While Kathleen appears to be responsible for the group that overthrew FEDRA’s rule, Perry is her right-hand man. However, fans of the original game will recognize his voice as he is portrayed by Jeffrey Pierce, who played Joel’s brother Tommy in both last of us games. As of episode four, we don’t know much about his character, but it’s fun for longtime fans to hear a familiar voice. This is not the first time a last of us Game Actor has appeared on the show as Merle Dandridge reprises her role as Marlene on the series and appeared in the pilot. Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, who portrayed Ellie and Joel respectively, will also appear as other characters in later episodes.
It remains to be seen how their stories will end, but Kathleen and Perry are an example of how HBO is going about it The last of us fills gaps left by the game. Both The last of us and its sequel were very accurate in how they played with perspective, which meant it wasn’t really explored unless it was in the realm of Joel, Ellie, or Abby’s point of view. The show has shifted perspectives throughout its run, meaning we spend less time with Joel and Ellie but learn more about the characters in their orbit and, through them, the wider world. Hell, if the show was as heavily focused on its main characters as the games are, we wouldn’t have gotten an entire mini-movie about it Bill and Frank in episode threeand the world would be worse for it.
