This may come as a surprise, but some people who watch a TV show based on a video game have toxic views. I know I’m shocked, but it’s true. Take a look at the reaction to the Bill and Frank episode of The Last of Us. Or better yet, don’t look at it.
Actress Melanie Lynskey, who plays Kathleen, an original character created for the HBO series, has also been hearing from the worst that Twitter has to offer since she made her debut during last Sunday’s episode. And frankly, she’s thrilled.
“Other than getting to work with creative geniuses who I respect and admire [creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann] the thing that excited me most about doing #TheLastOfUs is that my casting suggested the possibility of a future in which people start listening to the person with the best ideas,” the Yellowjackets actress wrote in a lengthy Twitter thread. Lynskey described Kathleen as not “the coolest or the toughest person,” but “the organiser. The person who knows where everything is. The person who is doing the planning. The person who can multitask. The one who’s decisive.”
She continued:
Women, and especially women in leadership positions, are scrutinized incessantly. Her voice is too shrill. Her voice is too quiet. She pays too much attention to how she looks. She doesn’t pay enough attention to how she looks. She’s too angry. She’s not angry enough. I was excited at the idea of playing a woman who had, in a desperate and tragic time, jumped into a role she had never planned on having and nobody else had planned on her having, and then she actually got shit done… I understand that some people are mad that I’m not the typical casting for this role. That’s thrilling to me. Other than the moments after action is called, when you feel like you’re actually in someone else’s body, the most exciting part of my job is subverting expectations
Kathleen gets sh*t done, and as long as the sh*t getting done doesn’t involve hurting Joel or Ellie, all the power to her.
You can read the thread below.
Other than getting to work with creative geniuses who I respect and admire (Neil & Craig) the thing that excited me most about doing #TheLastOfUs is that my casting suggested the possibility of a future in which people start listening to the person with the best ideas
— Melanie Lynskey (@melanielynskey) February 8, 2023