The Last of Us: Melanie Lynskey’s ‘Surprise’ Casting Revealed in First Trailer — Here’s Who She Is Playing

Your eyes are not deceiving you — Melanie Lynskey is indeed in HBO‘s The Last of Us. 

“Surprise!” the Yellowjackets star exclaimed on Twitter Monday, shortly after her stealth casting was revealed in the series’ first official trailer (watch above).

When one of Lynskey’s 154K followers asked her how she came to be involved in HBO’s adaptation of the wildly popular video game, the actress explained that she is a “fan” of The Last of Us‘ co-creator Craig Mazin.

Meanwhile, TVLine has learned that Lynskey is playing Kathleen, the ruthless leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City.

Set two decades after the implosion of current-day society, The Last of Us — which is slated to debut in 2023 — centers on Joel (The Mandalorian‘s Pedro Pascal), a tough survivor, who is hired to smuggle a 14-year-old girl named Ellie (Game of Thrones‘ Bella Ramsey) out of an “oppressive” quarantine zone, per the official synopsis. “What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse” across a U.S. ravaged by a lethal disease called the Cordyceps fungus “and depend on each other for survival.”

The cast also includes Anna Torv (Fringe), Storm Reid (Euphoria), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Gabriel Luna (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Merle Dandridge (Greenleaf), Nico Parker (The Third Day), Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus) and Con O’Neill (Chernobyl).