‘The Final of Us’ Star Melanie Lynskey Responds to Criticism of Her Casting: “I Don’t Must Be Muscly”

Melanie Lynskey, who marked her The Last of Us debut Sunday, is addressing criticism of her casting on the favored HBO sequence.

Lynskey, who performs Kathleen within the adaptation of the zombie online game, took to Twitter on Wednesday to answer a publish from America’s Next Top Model first-season winner Adrianne Curry. In referring to Lynskey, Curry wrote that “her physique says lifetime of luxurious…not publish apocolyptic warlord.” Curry additionally referenced the Terminator franchise within the since-deleted tweet by writing, “The place is Linda Hamilton once you want her?”

This led Lynskey, whose character is a frontrunner of a Kansas Metropolis-based revolutionary motion, to post a screenshot of Curry’s tweet, which was beneath a photograph of the actress from an InStyle shoot. “Firstly- this can be a picture from my cowl shoot for InStyle journal, not a nonetheless from HBO’s The Final Of Us,” Lynskey wrote. “And I’m taking part in an individual who meticulously deliberate & executed an overthrow of FEDRA. I’m speculated to be SMART, ma’am. I don’t have to be muscly. That’s what henchmen are for.”

The Yellowjackets star later posted a separate Twitter thread by which she praised The Final of Us sequence co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for encouraging her to embody a personality who’s unique to the sequence and wasn’t essentially “the best or the hardest particular person” however is the one with the most effective concepts amid the devastating world depicted on the present.

“I needed her to be female, and soft-voiced, and all of the issues that we’ve been advised are ‘weak.’ As a result of truthfully, fuck that,” Lynskey tweeted. She additionally added, “I perceive that some individuals are mad that I’m not the everyday casting for this position. That’s thrilling to me. Apart from the moments after motion is known as, once you really feel such as you’re truly in another person’s physique, probably the most thrilling a part of my job is subverting expectations.”

Though her unique publish was deleted, Curry appeared to double down on her assertion with quite a few tweets responding to Lynskey’s messages. Along with clarifying {that a} completely different Twitter person had posted the InStyle picture, Curry wrote that she hadn’t meant to criticize Lynskey however that she didn’t discover her to be the best casting option to make the character plausible.

“I stated she was too mushy spoken, quick and curvaceous for me to purchase as a ‘warlord’ over warrior males in a gaggle of savage people in publish apocalyptical societal collapse,” the Surreal Life alum tweeted.

Curry additionally said that her preliminary message included what she perceived to be a praise for Lynskey, however that it wasn’t seen within the screenshot that Lynskey posted: “She cropped out what I stated about her excellent hour glass body being probably the most fascinating to males. Appears fairly manipulative.”

The Final of Us, which stars Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, has already been picked up for a second season.