Isabela Merced’s resume is already stacked, but the star of underrated gem Dora the Explorer and The Lost City of Gold is just getting started. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the young actress—who’s soon to enter Sony’s live-action Marvel universe as Anya Corazon (whose spider-sona is Araña) in Madame Web—discussed two other major projects she has in the pipeline: James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy and The Last of Us season two.
Merced shared with THR that even though proper shooting has yet to begin on Gunn’s DC Studios picture, she’s done some test shooting as Hawkgirl with the filmmaker. “I was directed by [Gunn] during the [screen] test for [Superman: Legacy], because I auditioned for this. I got to do [the screen test] with my other castmates, and that was really cool. It felt very professional; it was almost like a legitimate shooting day,” Merced shared. “So I’ve already learned so much about his process, and this man … has the best of the best working for him.”
Before we get to see her take flight, she’ll be dealing with clickers on HBO’s The Last of Us season two. Merced was recently cast as Dina, a teen inhabitant of the group Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) encounter that’s led by his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna). As soon as she found out that co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann wanted to meet with her for the role, she got to work playing The Last of Us Part II, in which her character Dina is prominently featured. “I had already watched the show, and so I went to my friend’s house and I played [The Last of Us Part II] all in one weekend on the PS5. It was amazing. It did 25 hours of gameplay,” Merced shares. “It was wild, but so much fun. So I really liked the second game, but I haven’t played the first game yet.” Now that she has the role in the bag, there’s plenty of time for her to catch up.
Madame Web opens in theaters February 14.
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