{"id":538630,"date":"2026-04-19T00:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T00:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/538630\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T00:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T00:51:16","slug":"the-last-of-us-season-3-casts-sinners-breakout-star-in-key-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/538630\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last of Us season 3 casts Sinners breakout star in key role"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/last-of-us-season-3-release-date\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Last of Us season 3<\/a> has added even more stars to its cast, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/sinners-review-ryan-coogler\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sinners<\/a> actress Li Jun Li joining the fray.<\/p>\n<p>The post-apocalyptic drama, which will focus its third season on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/the-last-of-us-abby-tv-show-changes-explained-exclusive-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kaitlyn Dever&#8217;s Abby<\/a>, will see Li play Miriam, a Seraphite and the mother of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/the-last-of-us-season-3-yara-lev-casting-confirmed-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lev and Yara<\/a>, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/tv\/awards\/li-jun-li-joins-the-last-of-us-season-3-1236724228\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The actress is best known for her role as Grace Chow in Ryan Coogler&#8217;s Oscar-winning movie sinners, and she&#8217;s set to appear in Marvel&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/spider-noir-release-date-trailer-nicolas-cage-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Spider-Noir<\/a> alongside Nicolas Cage.<\/p>\n<p>It was previously confirmed that Michelle Mao will play Yara and Kyriana Kratter will play Lev, a pair of siblings who encounter Abby at a key moment in their lives.<\/p>\n<p>The Last of Us season 3 will show Abby&#8217;s experience as a soldier in Seattle, with the character having her perspective changed after seeking revenge against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/pedro-pascal-last-of-us-season-2-episode-2-reaction-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Joel (Pedro Pascal)<\/a> for her father&#8217;s death.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2266964632-f4a4a9e.jpg\" alt=\"Li Jun Li in a bejewelled white crop top, posing on a red carpet\" data-item-name=\"Li Jun Li in a bejewelled white crop top, posing on a red carpet\" title=\"Li Jun Li\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1 \/ 0.6667265540783327;object-fit:contain\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"700\" height=\"466.7085878548329\" data-testid=\"image-img\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Li Jun Li\u00a0Dia Dipasupil\/FilmMagic<\/p>\n<p>Alongside Dever, cast members <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/the-last-of-us-bella-ramsey-season-2-comment\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bella Ramsey (Ellie),<\/a> Isabella Merced (Dina), Gabriel Luna (Tommy) and Jeffrey Wright (Isaac) will return.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;ll be joined by Clea DuVall, who&#8217;s playing another member of the Seraphites, and Jorge Lendeborg Jr, who will be taking over the role of Manny, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/last-of-us-season-3-patrick-wilson-jason-ritter-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Patrick Wilson<\/a>, who will play Jerry Anderson, Abby&#8217;s father, and Jason Ritter, who will take on an original role, Washington Liberation Front soldier Hanley.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside these new additions, three returning faces have been promoted to regular roles.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0401TheLastofUsS02-13f8285-e1746187467646.jpg\" alt=\"Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) in The Last of Us season 2, standing side by side outdoors in a post-apocalyptic setting. Both have tense, concerned expressions as they look offscreen. Ellie wears a dark purple t-shirt, revealing a fern tattoo on her right forearm, while Dina wears a rust-colored button-up shirt over a light tank top. The background includes weathered brick and concrete walls overgrown with greenery.\" data-item-name=\"Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) in The Last of Us season 2, standing side by side outdoors in a post-apocalyptic setting. Both have tense, concerned expressions as they look offscreen. Ellie wears a dark purple t-shirt, revealing a fern tattoo on her right forearm, while Dina wears a rust-colored button-up shirt over a light tank top. The background includes weathered brick and concrete walls overgrown with greenery.\" title=\"Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) in The Last of Us season 2\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1 \/ 0.6656394453004623;object-fit:contain\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"700\" height=\"465.9476117103236\" data-testid=\"image-img\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) in The Last of Us season 2.\u00a0HBO<\/p>\n<p>Mel (Ariela Barer), Nora (Tati Gabrielle) and Owen (Spencer Lord), who were introduced as part of season 2, will all be core characters of season 3.<\/p>\n<p>Season 3 is also set to have a big creative shake-up behind-the-scenes. Co-creator and co-showrunner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/last-of-us-season-3-neil-druckmann-exit-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Neil Druckmann exited the series<\/a> after season 2, with Craig Mazin going solo as showrunner on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/the-last-of-us-future-baldurs-gate-series-exclusive-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">what looks set to be the show&#8217;s final season<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mazin said at the time: \u201cIt\u2019s been a creative dream to work with Neil and bring an adaptation of his brilliant work to life on HBO. I couldn\u2019t have asked for a more generous creative partner. As a true fan of Naughty Dog and Neil\u2019s work in video games, I\u2019m beyond excited to play his next game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While he focuses on that, I\u2019ll continue to work with our brilliant cast and crew to deliver the show our audience has come to expect. We are so grateful to Neil and Halley Gross for entrusting the incredible story of The Last of Us Part II to us, and we\u2019re just as grateful to the millions of people around the world who tune in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Last of Us seasons 1-2 are available to watch on HBO Max.<\/p>\n<p>Add The Last of Us to your watchlist on the <a title=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/download-the-app\/?af_xp=custom&amp;pid=website&amp;c=editorial_content&amp;is_retargeting=true&amp;af_reengagement_window=30d\" href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/download-the-app\/?af_xp=custom&amp;pid=website&amp;c=editorial_content&amp;is_retargeting=true&amp;af_reengagement_window=30d\" data-outlook-id=\"449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Radio Times: What to Watch app<\/a> \u2013 download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.<\/p>\n<p>Check out more of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sci-fi<\/a> coverage or visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/tv-listings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TV Guide<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/streaming-guide\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what&#8217;s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/audio\/podcasts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Last of Us season 3 has added even more stars to its cast, with Sinners actress Li&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-538630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}