The upcoming third season of HBO’s The Last of Us will be a major departure from the previous two years. Adapting the second half of Naughty Dog’s controversial The Last of Us Part II, the third season will focus on Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her side of events following the brutal murder of Joel. In order to explore those things—which has a lot to do with the brutal WLF fighting against the terrifying Seraphites. This will necessitate the casting of two key characters, siblings Yara and Lev. According to Deadline, HBO has made its choice. Playing Yara will be Bridgerton‘s Michelle Mao and as Lev, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew‘s Kyriana Kratter.
The siblings are Seraphites and play important roles in the game. Especially Lev, who is the sidekick character and moral compass for Abby’s portion of the story. Together they live through gruesome and harrowing violence which game devs needed in order to make players not hate Abby, the antagonist of the first half of the game.
The character of Lev in both the game and the season is a transgender boy. While HBO maintains the casting process was open and inclusive, we should note that Kratter (16) is a biological female and identifies as such.
Kratter played KB in Disney+’s Star Wars: Skeleton Crew opposite Jude Law and Ryan Kiera Armstrong. Mao, meanwhile, recently played the evil stepsister archetype on Netflix’s fourth season of Bridgerton. The rest of the cast for The Last of Us season three includes returning members Dever, Bella Ramsey, Isabela Merced, Gabriel Luna, and Jeffrey Wright. Recent new announcements include Clea DuVall as a Seraphite, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. taking over as Manny following Danny Ramirez’s departure, and Jason Ritter and Patrick Wilson will recur as Hanley, a WLF soldier, and Abby’s (Dever) father Jerry, respectively.
HBO expects to drop The Last of Us season three some time in 2027.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.