The Last Of Us Season 1 Actress Wants An Origin Story About Her Character

The Last of Us TV show actress Melanie Lynskey would love to return to the post-apocalyptic world of the HBO series through an origin story about her character. It's probably only wishful thinking, but anything can happen. This story contains spoilers for HBO's The Last of Us.

Lynskey plays a vengeful resistance group leader Kathleen, a character invented for the TV show and not from Naughty Dog's game. Her run didn't last long, as she was horrifically killed by an infected at the end of Episode 5. But Lynskey thinks there is more story to be told.

"If they wanted to go back and do an origin story, I would be there for it," Lynskey told Variety. "The story of how this woman got into this crazy position would be really interesting."

Kathleen has a backstory that seems like it has enough meat to sustain some storytelling. As we learn on the show, Kathleen became the leader of the Kansas City rebel group after her brother was murdered by FEDRA. That only happened because Henry (Lamar Johnson) gave him up to save his own brother. This set Kathleen down a path of vengeance as she stopped at nothing to hunt down and attempt to kill Henry, only to herself die.

For what it's worth, HBO has not announced any The Last of Us spin-off shows, but anything is possible in the future.

Lynskey told Variety that she didn't know anything about The Last of Us when she began discussions to star on the show. "My thumbs don't work that way. I didn't even play Atari," she said.

Lynskey said it was her husband, Jason Ritter, who eventually got her to take the role. "He said, 'You have to do it, no questions asked.' I was like, 'But I'm tired.' He was like, 'I don't care.'"

While Lynskey might be done with The Last of Us, fans can watch her play Shauna again in the recently released second season of Showtime's Yellowjackets.

The Last of Us Season 2 is expected to enter production this year with a release to come in 2024 or 2025. For more, check out GameSpot's rundown of everything we know about The Last of Us Season 2.