Tag: Isabela Merced

Posted on in News, Television News

‘The Last Of Us’: Isabel Merced & Young Mazino Nab Roles Alongside Kaitlyn Dever In Season 2 Of Acclaimed Post-Apocalypse Series

The acclaimed series adaptation of “The Last of Us” is quickly helping to shape Hollywood’s new obsession with video game adaptations. This takes us to a post-apocalypse setting where the United States has been plagued with a fungus outbreak that has turned the human population into a mindless horde of zombie-like creatures. Survivors find a glimmer of hope when a young girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is discovered to be seemingly immune after being bitten but not being affected by it and a resistance group assigns smuggler Joel (Pedro Pascal) to get her to proper people who can potentially use Ellie to create a cure/vaccine. One of the more compelling aspects of the show has been the dramatic scenes alongside excellently written character moments that elevate the horror elements into something extremely special given the lackluster track record of projects being based on video games.

A second season is finally gearing up to begin shooting soon which means casting is in full swing. This week it was reported that Kaitlyn Dever (“Last Man Standing”) is set to play the role of antagonist Abby with more recent updates via Variety adding that actors Isabel Merced (“Sicario 2,” “Alien: Romulus”) will play Dina and Young Mazino (“Beef”) has taken the part of Jesse in the next run of episodes.

Other actors that appeared in the first season included Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid, Merle Dandridge, Jeffrey Pierce, Lamar Johnson, Keivonn Woodard, Graham Greene, Elaine Miles, Ashley Johnson, and Troy Baker.

“The Last of Us” isn’t the only widely popular PlayStation exclusive game that is being given the live-action treatment as “God of War” is getting a series at Amazon Prime Video, Netflix landing a show based on “Horizon Zero Dawn,” and “John Wick” franchise director Chad Stahelski is aiming to bring the samurai adventure game “Ghost of Tsushima” to the big screen for Sony Pictures. There are also plans to make a sequel to the Tom Holland-led feature adaptation of “Uncharted.”

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Film News

‘Alien: Romulus’ Adds ‘Madame Web’ Actress Isabela Merced

The Alien franchise is in a really odd place these days as the theaterical IP is being mined for streaming with an Earthbound series coming from Noah Hawley and seventh feature film (not counting the the AVP installments) hailing from director Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe, The Evil Dead). The latter is ramping up production with casting in full-swing and we’ve finally got a second name attached to Alien: Romulus.

Another rising actress has been tapped for a lead role as Deadline reports that Isabela Merced (Sicario: Day of The Soldado, Madame Web, Sweet Girl) and will co-star alongside Cailee Spaeny (DEVS, Pacific Rim: Uprising). Merced isn’t a stranger to the horror genre as she was seen not too long ago in The Craft remake.

Production designer Naaman Marshall (Underwater, Mortal Kombat, Knock At The Cabin) and cinematographer Galo Olivares (Gretel & Hansel) are the main department heads on the sci-fi horror pic with more actors expected to be named in the coming weeks. We’re still waiting on concrete plot details for Alien: Romulus, where the film takes place within the Alien timeline, and when we can expect the film to drop on Hulu.

Álvarez helming the film was a bit of surprise given that current franchise producer Ridley Scott has long been trying to get a third prequel film, Alien: Awakening, off the ground as a follow-up to Alien: Covenant. At the end of that film, we saw David (Michael Fassbender) now in control of the ship along with the colonists that could be used for his xenomorph experiments. Daniels (Katherine Waterston) and Tennessee (Danny McBride) had survived their horrific ordeal as they’ve been placed back into hyper-sleep. However, it remains to be seen if we’ll ever see that third project come to fruition as Scott is getting ready to shoot his Gladiator sequel starring Oscar-nominated actor Paul Mescal (Aftersun) over the summer and will likely have more film projects to focus on beyond that as the filmmaker is very busy.

SOURCE: DEADLINE