Lynskey discusses her debut as Kathleen in The Last of Us episode 4.
Warning: This article contains spoilers fromThe Last of Usseason 1, episode 4.
“We decided that we would do a game where everybody was a special character.
Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen is the leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City in ‘The Last of Us.'.Liane Hentscher/HBO
“I knew I could trust him to be meticulous,” she says.
Lynskey describes Kathleen as a reluctant “war criminal.”
He’s leading the world.
Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen interrogates a collaborator in ‘The Last of Us.'.Liane Hentscher/HBO
He’s the kindest, most decent person.
I don’t think I’m that great of a person.
“And then somebody brutally kills him and it’s so unfair.
Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen in ‘The Last of Us’.Liane Hentscher/HBO
Who are you after that?”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I was reading your tweets recently and cackling to myself.
MELANIE LYNSKEY:Thank you.
It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.
This man just seeing my face and being like, “More pushing of the homosexual agenda.”
I honestly felt so flattered.
You definitely have a lot of fans in the gay community.
Is that a badge that you wear proudly?
Oh my God, yes.
It’s been a badge that I’ve worn proudly forever.
It’s just always been a big part of my own community and my life.
We have a very, very fun relationship.
I was such a fan of his writing.
For me, that’s such a big part of it, enjoying the time you spend with somebody.
So I knew that I would have fun with Craig.
I knew I could trust him to be meticulous.
I read the scripts and I was like, ‘These are great.’
I mean, surprise, surprise, it’s Craig Mazin.
I really didn’t hesitate.
I was so excited about it.
Can you describe one of the more outlandish Mafia games you played?
So everybody had a superpower and we were playing with like 26 people on Zoom.
We had Slack channels going for every single special character where he and I were communicating with people.
People would vote in the night in the Mafia game.
We’d have to send someone a message on Slack and be like, ‘You were killed.’
‘Check to see if one of the other super people had saved them with their special power.’
‘Somebody saved you.’
It got so complicated, and he was so on top of it and funny the whole time.
He would do that a lot in Mafia.
It was a very fun time.
I mean, I don’t miss the early days of the pandemic, but yeah.
Did Craig maintain that level of humor onThe Last of Us?
He’s just such a funny person.
He’s funny and he’s meticulous.
Those are the two.
He pays attention to everything.
Someone had to come in and dirty it more.
He’s really looking at everything.
I don’t even know if that would’ve been in the frame.
It was a little tiny thing, but he’s just paying attention to everything.
Kathleen, as a character, is someone even people who have played the games have never met before.
Do you remember the first nuggets of information Craig gave you that ended up helping you shape this performance?
I said, “Ugh, I don’t know.”
He was like, “I felt like that would be your reaction.
Let me tell you a bit more.”
He told me that her brother was basically Jesus.
He’s leading the world.
He’s the kindest, most decent person.
I don’t think I’m that great of a person.
I don’t really need to be anything in particular because I have this person by my side.”
And then somebody brutally kills him and it’s so unfair.
Who are you after that?
That’s a very interesting dynamic.
I know Craig’s scripts are usually very detailed.
I was gonna say I didn’t bring anything.
[Laughs] That’s not the right way to put it.
There was so much detail in the script.
This is somebody who I’m supposed to be themostafraid of."
I wanted her to be kind of gentle.
I wanted her to be soft spoken and delicate in the way she looked around.
I wanted her to feel like a sweet person, and then to have a surprising capacity for violence.
Is it fun for you to be a villain after playing so many good people for years?
It is really fun.
I was like, “It’s just my vendetta.”
Craig and I would always say “my vendetta” with a New Zealand accent.
