Rutina Wesley was scared to play Maria in The Last of Us, “even though it’s a game”

Last night’s episode of The Last of Us took Ellie and Joel to yet another new location: the quiet, orderly settlement of Jackson, Wyoming, easily the most hospitable place they’ve been yet. Joel finally reunites with his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and meets his new wife Maria (Rutina Wesley), a former district attorney who’s now a leader in Jackson. They’re expecting their first child.

Maria also appeared in Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us video game, where she was voiced by Ashley Scott. “It’s terrifying playing a character that’s been established, even though it’s a game,” Rutina told Entertainment Weekly. “But I also was up for the challenge of playing her in my way and putting my energy on it to see what people would think of that.”

"Sometimes you can do an adaptation of something and it’s a copy of a copy. Sometimes it’s not so great. But I felt here with The Last of Us, they really have had a chance to fly with these storylines, even if they altered them a bit, because it’s human people."

Rutina Wesley loved playing Maria in The Last of Us

Maria makes a strong impression; we first see her riding a horse as part of an intimidating away party who encircle Joel and Ellie, and later as a mother figure to Ellie. “I loved Maria, particularly because she’s a born leader,” Wesley said. “She’s fierce and she has this calm stillness to her that I love. She’s the type of woman that I described like, if she smiles, you probably only see it with her eyes. She’s not gonna give you full-blown Rutina red carpet teeth.”

"It’s great to see a woman of that kind of stature who is very good with a gun. She can ride a horse. She knows her way around this place and yet she’s taking this child and cutting their hair and getting to know them. I love the juxtaposition of that because sometimes you think people in that position as a leader are not capable of the other, and she’s very capable."

Maria subtly warns Ellie about Joel, about whom she’s heard some unsavory things from Tommy. Ellie shrugs her off, pointing out that Tommy also participated in some unsavory things with his brother back in the day. “She trusts Tommy enough to not ask any questions, to just let him do whatever it is that he’s doing,” Wesley said. “That’s how much she loves that man and that’s how much she trusts him, but she does look at Joel with a little bit of side-eye because she knows a lot of things about him.”

Rutina Wesley “excited” to be in The Last of Us season 2

Maria also plays a part in The Last of Us Part II video game, so presumably Wesley will be back for season 2 of the HBO show. And she sounds ready.

“Hell yes, I’m excited,” Wesley said. “I’m looking forward to something if they decide to come my way. I’m totally excited about that, because I did have fun playing with Gabe. He’s really great.”

"It would just be like icing on the cake. This is enough where it is ’cause it is a huge hit. So if it didn’t happen, I’d be great with it because this show is really good."

I think we can safely assume she’ll be back.

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