The Last of Us HBO series adds Mindhunter star Anna Torv as Tess

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

HBO's adaptation of Naughty Dog's critically acclaimed video-game The Last of Us started shooting earlier this month, but the cast has continued to grow. It's been reported that Anna Torv, best known for starring in Fringe and Mindhunter, has joined the cast of The Last of Us as Tess, "a smuggler and hardened survivor in a post-pandemic world." As a huge fan of Torv on both Fringe and Mindhunter, I'm thrilled she's involved with The Last of Us and can't wait to see what she'll bring to this new world.

The Last of Us takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed and finds Joel hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.  Pedro Pascal will star in The Last of Us as Joel, "a character tormented by past trauma and failure that must trek across a pandemic-ravaged America, all while protecting a girl who represents the last hope on humanity," while Bella Ramsey will be playing Ellie, "a 14-year-old orphan who has never known anything but a ravaged planet who struggles to balance her instinct for anger and defiance with her need for connection and belonging … as well as the newfound reality that she may be the key to saving the world." In addition to Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, and Anna Torv, The Last of Us will also star Gabriel Luna as Tommy, a former soldier who hasn't lost his sense of idealism and hope for a better world, and who just so happens to be the younger brother of Joel. Nico Parker, Merle Dandridge, Murray Bartlett, and Jeffrey Pierce are also featured.

The ten-episode first season of The Last of Us will debut on HBO in 2022.