The Last of Us Season 2, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, is finally here and Isabela Merced’s Dina is among the new characters in the dystopian zombie thriller. What else has Merced starred in before?
The Last of Us, of course, is a series based on the blockbuster video game franchise of the same name developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation gaming consoles that debuted in 2023.
During a global pandemic that turns infected people into zombie-like creatures known as Cordyceps, Joel (Pascal), a smuggler with a tragic past, is trying to find a way to transport an Ellie (Ramsey), who is immune to the virus, out of the quarantine zone and across the America.
The logline for The Last of Us Season 2 reads, “Five years after the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie are drawn into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.”
Among the slate of new characters in The Last of Us Season 2 is Dina, who is Ellie’s romantic interest and Jesse’s (Young Manzio) ex-girlfriend.
Born Isabela Moner in 2001, the actor’s career dates back to 2013 with a small role in the independent family drama The House that Jack Built. In 2014, Merced, then billed as Isabel Moner, landed a recurring role in the NBC-TV comedy series Growing up Fisher, and from 2014-2017 she starred in the Nickelodeon comedy series 100 Things To Do Before High School.
Also in that time frame the Moner starred in the voice role of Kate in the animated Nickelodeon series Dora and Friends: Into the City! — a Dora and the Explorer spinoff series that served as a precursor to a big Dora project for the actor in 2019.
Her big break in film came in 2017 in a supporting role opposite Mark Wahlberg in Transformers: The Last Night, which was followed by roles in Benicio Del Toro’s Sicario: Day of the Soldado and Instant Family (again opposite Wahlberg) in 2018.
Merced has been working non-stop in film and television since then. Below is a look at some of her other roles, which explains why she looks so familiar.
‘Dora And The Lost City Of Gold’ (2019)
The hit Nickelodeon animated series Dora the Explorer lept into the live-action realm with Dora and the Lost City of Gold, starring Merced as Dora.
Merced was certainly familiar with Dora’s world, having voiced the role of Kate — one of Dora’s (Fátima Ptacek) friends — in the Dora and the Explorer spinoff series Dora and Friends: Into the City! from 2014-2017.
‘Let It Snow’ (2019)
Isabela Merced stars as Julie Reyes in the original Netflix holiday comedy romance Let it Snow.
In Let it Snow, Julie befriends Stuart Bale (Shameik Moore), a rising pop star whom she meets on a train that stops in her home town on Christmas eve.
‘Sweet Girl’ (2021)
Isabela Merced stars as Rachel Cooper, the daughter of Jason Momoa’s Ray Cooper in the Netflix original movie Sweet Girl.
Following the tragic loss of Ray’s wife and Rachel’s mother, Amanda (Adria Arjona) to cancer, Ray seeks revenge against a corrupt pharmaceutical executive who pulled a drug that could have saved Amanda from the market.
Ray’s actions, however, have put his and Rachel’s lives in grave danger.
‘Father of the Birde’ (2022)
Isabela Merced plays Cora, the sister of bride-to-be Sofia (Adria Arjona) in Father of the Bride.
An HBO Max original film, Father of the Bride is the third film adaptation of the 1949 classic novel of the same name following the 1950 version starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor; and the 1991 version starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton and Kimberly Williams.
Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan play Sofia and Cora’s parents Billy and Ingrid, in the 2022’s Father of the Bride and Diego Boneta plays Sofia’s fiancé Adan.
‘Madame Web’ (2024)
One of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s ill-fated spinoff movies from its Spider-Man Universe, Madame Web stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb.
Cassandra is a clairvoyant who needs to protect three young women who are destined to develop superpowers who are targeted by a powerful assassin.
Isabela Merced stars as Anya Corazón — one of the trio of women Cassandra is protecting — along with Sydney Sweeney’s Julia Cornwall and Celeste O’Connor’s Mattie Franklin.
‘Alien: Romulus’ (2024)
Isabela Merced stars stars as a miner, Kay, in Alien: Romulus, one of ensemble chracters who encounters the deadly Xenomorphs abord an abandoned space outpost.
One of Kay’s key moments in the film happens when she tries to help fellow miner Navarro (Aileen Wu) as she convulses and eventually falls victim to an alien during the film’s explosive Xenomorph Chestburster scene.
Merced will return to the big screen in July, when she stars as Kendra Saunder/Hawkgirl in director James Gunn’s new version of Superman starring David Corenswet as the Clark Kent/The Man of Steel, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.
The Last of Us Season 2, starring Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Joel, Isabela Merced as Dina, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Rutina Wesley as Maria, Young Mazino as Jesse and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac, premieres on Sunday night on HBO and streams on Max.
New episodes of The Last of Us Season 2 will premiere every Sunday through May 25.
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