Actor Jason Ritter, the husband of Melanie Lynskey, had a secret role in “The Last Of Us.”
Although the “Two and a Half Men” actress played the character of Kathleen Coghlan, the leader of a resistance group in Kansas City, for two episodes, Ritter’s role was a bit harder to spot!
Jason Ritter Appeared As A Clicker During Wife Melanie Lynskey’s Episodes Of ‘The Last Of Us’
Do I spy with my little eye @JasonRitter (in the The Last Of Us BTS) on set as a clicker…?@melanielynskey, gonna assume this was “Take Your Husband to Work” Day😎 pic.twitter.com/5YKSaLkHrI
— kate (@karrotkate) March 14, 2023
One fan took to Twitter to point out that the clicker seen in “The Last Of Us” behind-the-scenes video, available on HBO, looks a lot like Melanie Lynskey’s husband, Jason Ritter.
The fan tweeted, “Do I spy with my little eye @JasonRitter (in the The Last Of Us BTS) on set as a clicker…?@melanielynskey, gonna assume this was “Take Your Husband to Work” Day.” Ritter replied, “Just the best day.”
This is far from the first time the two have starred together. As Entertainment Weekly noted, the two previously appeared in the Hulu limited series “Candy.” Lynskey played Betty Gore; Jessica Biel played 1980s housewife Candy Montgomery, who killed her friend Gore. Biel’s husband, Justin Timerlake, and Lynskey’s husband, Jason Ritter, play cops investigating Gore’s murder.
The couple will also team up again in season 2 of the critically acclaimed series, “Yellowjackets.” Details about his role have not been forthcoming, but it looks like he will guest star in at least one episode. “Lord of the Rings” star Elijah Wood is also making a guest appearance in the second season of the Emmy-nominated series.
Melanie Lynskey Reveals That ‘The Last Of Us’ Scene Took Over A Month To Film
Fans who have seen episode five of season 1 of “The Last of Us” know that there was an intense action scene when clickers, or infected people, rose up out of the ground and started attacking everyone in sight. During the weeks of training, Melanie Lynskey revealed that Jason Ritter had training as a stunt person during an episode of “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” (via IndieWire).
“He was a stunt person. He trained with the stunt people, and he just did all these amazing stunts. It’s like his lifelong dream,” Lynskey said. “He got put in makeup and came out of the ground and was falling over and doing all these [flips].”
When asked if her character fought back, Lynskey replied, “I shot him once. Yeah. Why not?” She later joked that the scene was “so romantic.”
Melanie Lynskey And Jason Ritter Won’t Be In Season 2, But Bella Ramsey Sure Will Be!
Although it’s hard to imagine how Melanie Lynskey and Jason Ritter could fit in the second season of the show, which is based on the 2020 video game “The Last Of Us Part II,” showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann told Entertainment Weekly that “Game of Thrones” alum Bella Ramsey will return as Ellie.
The showrunners admitted that there was “anxiety” about Ramsey’s casting, as she was 17 when she was cast as 14-year-old Ellie in season 1. Ramsey is now 19, the same age that Ellie is after the time jump in “The Last Of Us Part II.” Although some fans speculated that Ramsey would be recast to show the time jump, the showrunners confirmed that she will reprise her role as Ramsey whenever season 2 kicks off.
“I think there is still this constant drumbeat of anxiety. All I can say to people is, I have so much anxiety myself about doing a good job on this. Just know I am also very anxious,” Mazin said. “If you’re anxious about something, I’m probably anxious about it, which means we’re talking about it and thinking about it.”
Some fans were disgruntled to see that some of the episodes in the show deviated from the game. Mazin confirmed that the second season will also be “different” from the game in different ways.
“Sometimes it will be different radically, and sometimes it will be [barely] different at all. But it’s going to be different and it will be its own thing,” he said. “It won’t be exactly like the game. It will be the show that Neil and I want to make. But we are making it with Bella.”
No release date for season 2 of “The Last Of Us” has yet to be announced.
