We got another episode of The Last of Us and that means meeting new characters. This week, we are introduced to several new faces who do not appear in the original game. In Episode 4, Melanie Lynskey debuted as Kathleen, the leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City and although we don't know much about her just yet, Lynskey has teased her character's backstory.
In The Last of Us Episode 4, Kathleen is introduced as she interrogates a doctor about the whereabouts of several people including a man named Henry who may have been responsible for her brother's death. Kathleen is clearly determined to track down Henry and will stop at anything to capture him.
We still don't know much about Kathleen but Melanie Lynskey revealed to Entertainment Weekly that she originally didn't want to play the character when co-showrunner Craig Mazin told her about Kathleen.
"He said to me, 'I hope you're not offended, but I would love for you to play a war criminal.' I said, 'Ugh, I don't know.' He was like, 'I felt like that would be your reaction. Let me tell you a bit more,'" Lynskey said. She then pointed out that Kathleen has been living in her brother's shadow for a long time.
"He told me that her brother was basically Jesus. Like, imagine growing up as the sibling of Jesus and being like, 'My brother's the greatest human being. He's leading the world. He's the kindest, most decent person. I don't think I'm that great of a person. I don't really need to be anything in particular because I have this person by my side.' And then somebody brutally kills him and it's so unfair. Who are you after that?" Lynskey stated.
"You are forced to step into a role that you never asked for and you don't think you're very good at," she continued. Lynskey then admitted that she became interested in the character after Mazin's pitch.
"The thing I found very interesting about her is, when she did step into the role, she didn't have a lot of guilt about doing bad things, whereas her brother did," she said. "She found out that she was quite heartless and so she was able to be pretty effective in a way that he maybe wasn't because she didn't care about people. That's a very interesting dynamic."
It's an awesome revelation about the character and it's certainly interesting how Kathleen came to be the leader of the revolutionaries. With that in mind, we can't wait to see more of her in future episodes.
The Last of Us Episode 4 is now streaming on HBO Max.
Related: The Last of Us Episode 4 Magazine Scene Perfectly Captures Joel and Ellie's Game Banter
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