Explained: Who is Marlene in The Last of Us series?

Marlene is one of the most important characters in both the video game and the show - The Last of Us. She is played by Merle Dandridge.

Merle Dandridge is an American actress and singer best known for performing in Broadway musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Spamalot, Rent, and Once on This Island. Besides appearing in The Last of Us game series, she also played Alyx Vance in the game Half-Life 2.

To prepare for the HBO show, Dandridge had to revisit the games. To get her into the charater, a motion capture stage and custom-built suit were used.

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Marlene is the leader of a rebel group in The Last of Us

Marlene is based in the Boston quarantine zone and is the leader of The Fireflies, a rebel group whose goal is to overthrow the military reign of FEDRA and find a cure for the cordyceps virus.

The first episode sees her winning over Ellie, whom she held captive. It was also further revealed that Marlene was responsible for putting Ellie into a FEDRA school. Marlene took a bullet during a ruckus and asked Joel and Tess to take Ellie to a Firefly base at the Capitol building.

In an interview, Merle Dandridge spoke about how her role allowed her to explore parts of Marlene's story like never before:

"Further down in the season, some of the things that I get to do...things that have only lived in my heart as part of her [Marlene's] heartbreak, and part of her joy, and the beautiful things that have happened to her, we get to see them on the camera, on screen."

She continued:

"And because serial television and long-term television is what it is, the possibilities are endless of what you will get to see play out in this world.”

The actress recalled that her character's hairstyle was a huge topic of discussion. Special attention was paid to the grayness of her hair, and a lot of thought went into it.

She then appreciated show creator Craig Mazin by saying that he saw a massive scope for her character - the strength, purpose, and desire to move forward in the cause of leading The Fireflies as well as being a beacon of hope for everyone.

However, living in this hopeless environment for 20 years came had consequences.

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What is The Last of Us about?

The Last of Us sees a post-apocalyptic world 20 years after a strain of cordyceps fungus infects people around the world and turns them animalistic or zombie-like.

The official synopsis of the HBO series reads:

"Based on the critically acclaimed video game The Last of Us, developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation platforms, the story takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, 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. and depend on each other for survival."

The Last of Us stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, Elaine Miles as Florence, and many more.