Isabela Merced on 'The Last of Us' Season Two and Joining 'Superman' Cast

Isabela Merced is seriously booked and busy right now. She’s got a starring role as Dina in HBO’s The Last of Us season two and is also gearing up to play Hawkgirl in the new Superman movie.

On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Merced opened up about what it’s like to bounce between two huge projects, saying, “It felt like I was dating two people at once.” She even joked about racking up “eight flights a month” just to make it all work.

For The Last of Us, Merced wanted to be as ready as possible, so she played the game in one weekend with a friend. “Whenever the bloaters would come up, I would just throw the controller to him,” she admitted, calling it “the most frightening thing in the world.”

The job also meant a ton of physical training—combat practice, horse riding, and even inventing a secret sign language with co-star Bella Ramsey to keep things fun on set.

Filming Superman in her hometown of Cleveland brought things full circle for her. Merced spotted people she grew up with working as extras, which she said made her feel “really present and grounded.”

The season two finale of The Last of Us airs May 25, 2025, and Superman is set to hit theaters July 11, 2025.