Spoilers ahead for Season 1 of The Last of Us.
HBO has been a hub for quality TV content for decades now, and the network is showing no signs of slowing down. One of the most recent megahits to arrive on the small screen has been The Last of Us, which is based off the acclaimed video game of the same name. Season 1 ended with a bang, with fans now left to anxiously await the next series of episodes. But could a Last of Us prequel happen? Actress Melanie Lynskey has a fantastic and suitably brutal idea.
While The Last of Us was a faithful adaptation to the video games, the HBO series did make some changes in order to bring the story to TV. That includes introducing new characters like Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen Coghlan, who was the murderous leader of the Kansas City revolutionaries. The Yellowjackets star recently spoke to Variety about her time in that universe, where she was asked if she’d be town to reprise her role. She responded enthusiastically, saying:
If they wanted to go back and do an origin story, I would be there for it. The story of how this woman got into this crazy position would be really interesting.
Honestly, sign me up. The Kansas City plot line in The Last Of Us was a truly fascinating set of episodes in Season 1, partly thanks to the compelling performance given by Lynskey. As such, it would be awesome to see more of her backstory, including how she and her late brother Michael started the revolutionary group that eventually took the city from FEDRA. Fingers crossed.
Melanie Lynskey’s comments show just how passionate she is about her role in The Last of Us, despite only appearing in two episodes throughout Season 1. She’s down to explore her character’s dark backstory, and smart money says fans would be down to watch this play out as well. We’ll just have to wait and see if HBO actually ends up expanding the burgeoning franchise in this way, or if it sticks to the main plot line from the games.
Kathleen was a unique but horrifying character in The Last of Us, with Lynskey’s soft spoken dialogue standing in stark contrast to her brutally violent actions. On top of being determined to take down FEDRA and killing any of their informants, she was also deeply vengeful over her brother’s death, resulting in a city-wide manhunt for Henry.
In the end, Kathleen’s singular focus ended up killing her. When tracking down Henry she and her militia accidentally opened up a sinkhole, with countless infected (including Bloaters) crawling out and killing her men. And while she could have possibly escaped, she stayed behind to try and kill Henry, resulting in her being killed by a child Clicker. I’d love to see more from this character, and maybe even see her relationship with her brother played out on the screen in a prequel or in the upcoming second season.
The Last of Us is currently streaming in its entirety on HBO Max. As for Melanie Lynskey, she can be seen in new episodes of Yellowjackets every weekend on Showtime. In the meantime, check out the TV premiere list to plan your next movie experience.
