Kyriana Kratter and Michelle Mao have been cast in the most important roles of the season: Lev and Yara, respectively. Lev and Yara are the driving force behind Abby’s story. Whereas Ellie’s story was all about revenge, Abby’s is all about redemption. She got her revenge, and it didn’t fix anything — it just made her feel worse — so what does she have to do to get back to the light? Much like Joel in the first game/season, she takes a young ward under her wing (two, actually). But, where Joel was a father figure to Ellie, Abby is more of a big sister to Lev and Yara.
It’s crucial for The Last of Us season 3 to get Lev and Yara’s story right, and the latest casting announcement is a very promising sign that the characters are getting the attention and screen time they deserve. Sinners’ Li Jun Li has been cast as Miriam, Lev and Yara’s mother, who’s discussed a lot in the game but never seen (at least not alive), so the TV show seems to be expanding on the character.
Li Jun Li's Casting Promises A Bigger Role For Lev & Yara's Mother In The Last Of Us Season 3
Li was one of the many breakout stars in the Oscar-winning ensemble of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. She played grief-stricken shopkeeper Grace Chow, the one who invites the vampire horde into the juke joint and sets the stage for the movie’s From Dusk Till Dawn turn into a blood-soaked action thriller. Her casting in The Last of Us suggests the show will be significantly expanding the role of Lev and Yara’s mom. You wouldn’t cast such a talented, high-profile star to play a corpse.
It seems likely that, much like season 2 did with the casting of Joe Pantoliano as Eugene, a world-class actor has been cast to take an off-screen dead character from the game and turn them into a fully fleshed-out, living, breathing human being. There are many minor characters from The Last of Us Part II that the TV show could expand on — Max, the kid from the aquarium; Boris Legasov, the archer who took on the W.L.F.; Gray, the W.L.F. defector who became a scar — and Lev and Yara’s mother is a great choice for an unseen character to play a bigger role in the TV show.
She’ll give us a new perspective on the Seraphite religion, and a new perspective on Lev and Yara themselves, that we didn’t get to see in the game. It’ll be interesting to see what Li does with the character, because unlike with Pedro Pascal or Anna Torv or Nick Offerman, there’s no previous performance to compare her to.
The Last Of Us Season 3 Might Be Introducing Lev & Yara Before They Run Away
In the game, we first meet Lev and Yara when Abby is about to be executed by the Seraphites. The Seraphites have also captured Yara, a teenage runaway, and prepare to execute her, too, before her younger brother Lev comes along with his bow and arrow and takes out the would-be executioners. From then on, Abby, Lev, and Yara go on the run together, reluctantly watching each other’s backs as they flee from the Seraphites hunting them and the infected sniffing them out.
We hear a lot about how Lev and Yara got there, and why they ended up running away. The Seraphite council refused to recognize Lev’s gender identity, so he shaved his head as an act of protest. Their mother chose the elders’ judgment over her own children’s wellbeing, so Lev and Yara were forced to go on the run, and that’s when they met Abby.
Since a video game is locked into just one character’s perspective, there was no other choice than to introduce Lev and Yara at the moment they first bump into the playable protagonist. But a TV show has much more freedom, and the casting of Lev and Yara’s mother suggests that we might meet these two characters before they run away, which would add a lot more depth and context to their story.
Lev & Yara's Mother Will Give Us A Different Perspective Of The Seraphite Religion
In the game, we only ever see the Seraphites’ island when it’s under attack and on fire. But the TV adaptation can show us a typical day in the life of the Seraphites, the same way we’ve seen a typical day in the lives of the people in Jackson and the Wolves’ stadium. Lev and Yara’s mother will give us a whole different perspective on the Seraphite religion.
When we meet Lev and Yara, they’ve already become disillusioned with the Seraphites as an organization, mentally separating the original beauty of the prophet’s teachings from what the corrupt leaders warped them into. But Lev and Yara’s mom is much more set in her ways, and unable to make that mental break. She’s so entrenched in her beliefs that she chooses the religion over her own son.
In the game, we find a traumatized Lev after his shocking final confrontation with his mother, but maybe the TV series can show what happened. It was heartbreaking enough to see Lev crying in the aftermath of that tense showdown with his mother, but The Last of Us season 3 can go a step further and actually show what happened in those fateful last moments.
English (US) ·