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The Last of Us Season 2 Star Isabela Merced Says It Will Be ‘Really Hard’ to Hate Bella Ramsey’s Ellie After Intimate Scene
In an emotional interview, Isabela Merced discusses portraying Dina in The Last of Us Season 2, crafting her romance with Ellie, and why the show’s LGBTQ+ representation resonates with her.
As The Last of Us Season 2 unfolds, one of its most affecting storylines centers on the burgeoning romance between Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced). In Episode 4, “Day One,” the pair's relationship reaches a turning point with an intimate scene that highlights the emotional depth of their bond. Speaking to Variety, Merced shares how the series’ nuanced writing, her collaboration with Ramsey, and the show’s commitment to queer authenticity all shaped her performance.
Isabela Merced knew The Last of Us Part II well before auditioning, but she didn’t anticipate landing such a pivotal role. When showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann cast her as Dina—Ellie’s love interest and emotional anchor—Merced quickly realized she was stepping into something bigger than expected. “I didn’t expect it to be this big of a role,” she admits. But over the course of filming, she saw how Dina serves as a counterbalance to Ellie’s spiraling grief and rage.
Merced describes Dina as a “clean slate” for the TV adaptation—a way to humanize Ellie’s descent into vengeance while preserving her vulnerability. The chemistry between Merced and Ramsey had to feel immediate and real, despite the actors not having much prep time together due to overlapping projects. Still, Merced recalls that from their first scene—when Dina teases Ellie about her shoes — everything clicked.
The pair’s relationship simmers with tension until Episode 4, when Ellie and Dina finally confess their feelings and share a love scene, which Merced worked on closely with the show’s intimacy coordinator. “We wanted it to feel real, not performative,” she says, emphasizing how the moment balanced romance, vulnerability, and queer authenticity.
Beyond their intimacy, the episode also captures the brutal realities of the post-apocalyptic world. Dina and Ellie are stalked by the Wolves and nearly killed in a subway tunnel sequence—an intense shoot Merced describes as physically grueling and emotionally taxing. From dealing with the stench of unprocessed manure used for set dressing to dodging infected on shaking subway cars, Merced says the week-long shoot led to a private sign language system she and Ramsey used to communicate their comfort and safety boundaries.
For Merced, the most memorable moment was Ellie’s emotional performance of “Take On Me,” a scene pulled from the video game. “Music is a huge emotional trigger for me,” she shares. “That moment wasn’t just Dina falling deeper in love — she was grieving Joel too.”
While much of the show deals in violence and loss, Merced believes it’s the quiet, romantic moments that will stay with viewers. “Love is scary,” she says. “And that’s what I tried to show in Dina—that under her strength, she’s scared too.”
For Merced, being a queer actor portraying such a central queer relationship is both personal and political. “People don’t actually believe I’m queer,” she says candidly, “so this role meant a lot.” With The Last of Us Season 2 placing Ellie and Dina’s love at its heart, Merced hopes audiences see their story not just as representation, but as a universal portrait of grief, healing, and the redemptive power of love—even at the end of the world.
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