HBO's The Last of Us casts Ellie love interest Dina — and it's not that season 1 cameo

HBO has found its Dina for The Last of Us season 2, and some fans who've been theorizing might be surprised.

Isabela Merced — known for starring in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Sweet Girl, Father of the Bride, and Transformers: The Last Knight — is the latest new addition to join the cast of the early Emmy darling, the Home Box Office network announced Thursday.

The character is described as "a free-wheeling spirit whose devotion to Ellie will be tested by the brutality of the world they inhabit." In 2020's The Last of Us Part II video game, she's Ellie's love interest who becomes an integral part of the events that transpire.

Westworld actress Shannon Woodward voiced Dina in the video games.

Fans speculated that we might have already met Dina on the show back in season 1. In episode 6, when Pedro Pascal's Joel and Bella Ramsey's Ellie arrive in the Jackson, Wyo. community, a mysterious girl is caught staring at Ellie in the cafeteria. The credits simply refer to her as "The Staring Girl," played by actress Paolina Van Kleef.

Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann did not dispute the theory that "The Staring Girl" could be Dina. "In Part II, there is a story about the first time Dina met Ellie that is very similar to what happens here," Druckmann teased at the time. "That doesn't mean that that's Dina," Mazin added. "Doesn't mean it's not."

At the very least, it's official that Van Kleef will not be the one to play Dina in The Last of Us season 2. “Dina is warm, brilliant, wild, funny, moral, dangerous, and instantly lovable. You can search forever for an actor who effortlessly embodies all of those things, or you can find Isabela Merced right away," the two showrunners said in a new joint statement. "We couldn’t be prouder to have her join our family.”

Merced starred in the 2022 Shakespearian movie Rosaline opposite Kaitlyn Dever in the titular role. As it happens, Dever was announced earlier this week to be joining The Last of Us season 2 in the pivotal role of Abby. Though Abby is described as "a skilled soldier whose black-and-white view of the world is challenged as she seeks vengeance for those she loved," she has an immense impact on the season 2 story — one that might spoil things for new fans to lay it all out here.

Following Dever's casting, Beef Emmy nominee Young Mazino was announced for the role of Jesse. In the game, Jesse is Dina's ex-boyfriend and Ellie's friend in Jackson.

Mazin and Druckmann have played coy about how they are adapting the events of Part II, which took place five years after the events of the first game. After their tumultuous and traumatic journey across an apocalyptic America, the sequel game saw Joel and Ellie settled in the Jackson community with Joel's brother Tommy and Tommy's wife Maria, when a violent event disrupts their peace and compels Ellie on her own journey to seek justice.

The string of casting reveals comes days before the awards fate of The Last of Us will be determined at the Emmys ceremony on Monday. The drama already won eight Creative Arts Emmys and is up for multiple other high-profile honors, including Drama Series, Lead Actor in a Drama, and Lead Actress in a Drama.

HBO plans to begin filming season 2 in February ahead of a projected 2025 premiere.

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