‘The Last of Us’: Is Kathleen in the Video Game?
The Last of Us Episode 4 introduced Kathleen, the leader of a revolutionary group in Kansas City. Kathleen’s group previously overthrew the FEDRA agents running the city’s quarantine zone. Members of her group ambush Joel and Ellie on their way to Wyoming, trapping the pair in the city. In the video game by Naughty Dog, the pair encounter a very similar trap, but is Kathleen a brand new character?
[WARNING: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Episode 4.]
‘The Last of Us’ Episode 4 introduced a group of revolutionaries
The world of The Last of Us expands even further in episode 4. There’s more than FEDRA Agents and Fireflies. In episode 4, a group of revolutionaries ambushes Joel and Ellie. This group overthrew the FEDRA Agents running the Kansas City QZ.
Their leader Kathleen is determined to round up the remaining FEDRA collaborators in Kansas City. Kathleen is suffering from her own grief and mentions that her brother was beaten to death while in the FEDRA lockup. She even shoots a doctor when he won’t give her information on the whereabouts of a man named Henry.
Is Kathleen in the video game version of ‘The Last of Us’?
Kathleen is a character that was invented solely for The Last of Us series. She is not present in the video game, though Joel and Ellie are ambushed in a very similar way. For the series, however, showrunner Neil Druckmann added more humanity to the rebel group that attacks them.
“This was another thing that we discussed early on. How do we personify this group?” co-showrunner Neil Druckmann pondered in an Inside the Episode video from HBO. “In the game, they were just an obstacle. How do we give them a face?”
“From here, it would be interesting if they were more of an obstacle. They feel like people with a real goal, and real motivation, and humanity,” Druckmann continued. “With the character of Kathleen, we get to see that she’s a ruthless leader, and she clearly has respect for this group that managed to take down a quarantine zone.”
Melanie Lynskey portrays Kathleen
Kathleen is portrayed by Melanie Lynskey in The Last of Us Episode 4. The actor rose to fame for portraying Rose in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men and earned a Critics’ Choice nomination for her role in HBO’s Togetherness. Now she is a terrifying revolutionary leader in The Last of Us.
“When there is a dramatic shift in power from a repressive regime being overthrown by a revolutionary force, history is full of examples where the revolutionary force is just as bad as what was there before,” co-showrunner Craig Mazin stated in the HBO video. “Here in Melanie Linskey, we have that embodied.”
New episodes of The Last of Us drop every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.
