With the Last of Us TV series on the way next year, we'll get to experience Joel and Ellie's epic and often harrowing struggle for survival in a whole new way. As well as getting the script and tone right, getting real-life actors to look like their virtual counterparts is likely a lot of work. But HBO could save itself the effort of transforming someone into The Last of Us 2's Dina by casting someone who already looks like the character.
Athena Nickole revealed her uncanny resemblance to Dina in a short video on TikTok. "We have the same ears," Nickole says. The footage shows her posting in front of a picture of The Last of Us 2 character, highlighting just how strikingly similar all of her other features are too.
@athenz ♬ Them Changes (Sped Up) - Thundercat
The Dina look-a-like followed up with a second video where she admits that an image of Dina fooled even her mother. "My mother thought this was just a pic of me," she says.
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What makes Nickole even more perfect for the role is that she has the acting talent to boot. According to her website, she began her career with the Greater Boston Stage Company at the age of eight, and now enjoys writing, directing, shooting, and acting in short films online for her 350K followers.
The Last of Us fans firmly support Nickole getting the role. One TikTok user wrote, "That's literally you. If you don't get cast, we riot." In the two days since it was posted, the comment has been liked by almost 10,000 users.
Filming has now wrapped on the first season of The Last of Us TV series, which is expected to release in "early 2023."
