The Last of Us Episode 204’s Queer Scenes Brought To You By Two Queer Actors and a Queer Director

If you thought that just because I write a weekly recap of The Last of Us with Nic means I don’t have anything more to say about it, you’d be mistaken. FOR EXAMPLE, this week, Isabela Merced did an interview where she talked about the love scene between Ellie and Dina, and she said it felt as tender as it looked to us as an audience. She said, “Bella and I were just so comfortable with each other. And also, we both have experience in queer relationships — you can just tell when a girl hasn’t kissed a girl before. You can just feel it.” And I think that’s really true. This comfort and understanding shone through the scene, and Isabela said they even added some extra kisses and moments while they were filming, which added to the natural feel of the whole episode.

Now, I don’t think you HAVE to be queer to play queer characters; I think especially for characters who having a coming out arc, sometimes the “straight” actors who feel drawn to that role should take it, because they might end up realizing they’re queer themselves, e.g. Dom Provost Chalkley, Kat Barrell, Chyler Leigh. But I DO think when you have two characters who are meant to show physical comfort with each other, especially right off the bat, having queer actors does elevate the scenes. While Dina wasn’t necessarily all-in on her queerness from the jump, she was physically and emotionally comfortable with Ellie, and that’s clear from Isabela’s performance. Queer people being involved also makes it feel a little more special, to me at least. Even though there are plenty of straight actors who have given us truly epic queer scenes on television in the past, there IS something undeniably special about the fact that these Ellie and Dina scenes were created by two queers actors and a queer director (Kate Herron), because they get it, they understand the importance and meaningfulness and nuances of it in a way that not even the most well-meaning straight person could.

And Kate Herron does get it and spoke to Out about episode 204 and how she loves working in the sci-fi genre and finding relatable stories amidst unrelatable worlds.

About the music store scene specifically, Herron says, “The Last of Us world is very harrowing. It’s very violent and you don’t get many moments, even just them finding a music shop where there’s no infected. It’s like we just get to be normal people just for this little moment in time, which I think is very beautiful.”

And don’t we deserve a little beautiful?