Melanie Lynskey ‘absolutely wouldn’t’ survive a deadly zombie apocalypse
After starring in last year’s critically acclaimed Yellowjackets and Candy, Lynskey has returned with the hit show The Last of Us. She talks to
Warning: this article contains spoilers for episodes 4 and 5 of The Last of Us.
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that the news that you were starring in The Last of Us was insanely exciting. How long have you been holding onto that secret?
I filmed [The Last of Us] last year in April, and I just knew I wasn’t supposed to talk about it, and I didn’t know how long I wasn’t supposed to talk about it. Then HBO said something about it, so I was like, ‘‘whew, I can talk about it!’’ because I was so excited too!
You play Kathleen, a character that has been created for the television adaptation – what kind of depth do you think she brings to the show?
I think her storyline is so interesting and the way it connects with and overlaps with the storyline of Sam and Henry tells a very interesting story about villains and revenge, and the things that you think are going to make you feel better.
I really love the way that there’s shifting alliances for you as a viewer, because you’re like, ‘‘oh God, somebody ratted out her brother? That’s awful,’’ and then you find it’s to save this beautiful child’s life. You’re like, is that OK? Is that not OK? Is it alright that she’s still this angry?
I love that we were given a lot of freedom to play with the hurt and the betrayal of it; I wasn’t just supposed to be this rampaging, angry person, because I think somebody who is truly wounded and very singleminded in their focus is maybe scarier than somebody who is just yelling out on a crazy rampage.
I love the fact that when Kathleen did finally see Henry in that climatic moment, it was allowed to be a moment of pain and loss where, for me, I felt there was a part of her that looked at him and realised it’s not going to fix the pain, so the depth of that story and the complicated emotions of that is really beautiful.
Kathleen, to me, seems kind of like an every-woman, like in another life she could be your neighbour or the mother of your child’s friend. Does it have a huge, personal mental impact putting yourself in her shoes and living out her grief? Yeah, I love that you said that, because I also thought that if the world had not ended, if this awful thing hadn’t happened, she’d probably be a totally fine high school teacher. She was raised with this brother who was a truly special person; I think that she was overlooked for much of her life because he was so undeniably great – when Craig Mazin [the show’s creator] pitched me this story, he said, ‘‘Imagine your brother is Jesus, and that’s what you grew up with’’.
When her brother died, my imaging of it is that she had some kind of administrative job ... and then she actually discovers she has this capacity for violence, and that she doesn’t have a ton of empathy, and she was able to do things without thinking about them afterwards.
I didn’t want her to come into the show as this tough leader, I wanted to be like, wait, what? This woman is overthrowing the government? I think sometimes we expect women to have a more masculine vibe in order to be leaders, and thought there was something really interesting about someone who is quite a delicate person but had much more toughness than her brother.
She’s interesting, because she’s quite soft-spoken, she really blurs the line between what we consider to be a ‘‘good’’ person and a ‘‘bad’’ person. Do you believe in good and bad people?
I kind of do – I think most people live in some kind of grey area, I think a lot of people could be better if they tried, but I do think some people are just bad people, and some people are so good that they can’t help themselves. What do you think?
I’m a Buddhist, so it’s in the philosophy that there are no good or bad people, but there are definitely things that people do that seem unforgivable. I guess for Kathleen, the loss of her brother was completely unforgivable ... we have these grand ideas about what would happen in a zombie apocalypse, but really it’s not something we can ever imagine.
That’s so funny you say that, because I felt like with episode three, this is the first time I’ve seen a zombie show that feels relatable. The idea of holing up in the middle of nowhere with a lot of really good wine, I was like, ‘‘that’s it, that’s the dream of the zombie apocalypse!’’
How do you think you would survive a zombie apocalypse situation?
I just think I absolutely wouldn’t. Every day, I forget something that I need... I have a car to pick me up to go to the airport and the driver’s like, ‘‘you got everything? You got your passport?’’, and I’m like, ‘‘f..., I don’t!’’ I can’t imagine how I would get through it! I think I’d probably be one of the first to go.
You called episode three the ‘‘masterpiece to end all masterpieces’’ – is there a bit of pressure to be following something so big?
I’m like, ‘‘why am I in episode four? Could I not just be in five and six?’’ Having said that, the episodes I’m in are so amazing and episode five gets so crazy, and I’m super proud. I watched all five [episodes] in quick succession and I love every episode, I want to keep watching. It’s not like it felt like a let-down, but [episode three] was just so good!
The ending of episode five is insanely heartbreaking.
Lamar [Johnson, who plays Henry] learnt sign language for that role, and he spent all of his spare time bonding with Keivonn [Woodard, who plays Sam] and making sure they seemed like they really knew each other. The depth of emotion that he brings to every moment, you feel the weight of the world on his shoulders when he’s just trying to take care of this little boy. It makes me so emotional. The ending, him reckoning with this awful thing that he’s done, it’s just so heartbreaking. He’s such an incredible actor, it’s a special performance.
It feels odd watching the show postpandemic and getting those jitters of remembering that grim feeling where you don’t know where the world’s going.
Yeah, and also so much of what they built [for the set] was so practical. I think I had an idea that there would maybe be a couple of house fronts and everything would be [Computer Generated Imagery] ... you’re literally walking into this world, it’s meticulous. You feel like you’re in this world that has overrun, and it’s ended, and it’s a very spooky feeling. The imaginative work I had to do was so minimal ... It’s the hugest, most amazing thing I’ve ever been a part of.
I read in an interview that you gave your daughter a Ma¯ ori name, which I think is really beautiful ... I was wondering if you were bringing her up with a lot of the culture as well, which would be hard living in the States.
Yeah, it is hard, and also my own knowledge of te reo is so limited, and it’s something I’m really working on. I’m trying to teach her numbers, colours, things like that – she’s four, so she knows every colour in Ma¯ ori which is nice.
Her name, Kahikatea, is such a strong name, and she had a difficult birth. She feels like a little survivor, and I wanted her to have a name that felt really strong and connected, and female and powerful. She really owns it, she’s really proud of her name.