The Last of Us Episode 6 saw the debut of Graham Greene in HBO’s flagship series as Marlon.
The latest chapter in Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsay) journey to find a cure for the fungal outbreak that had killed most of the population led them to meet new people, including Marlon. The grumpy man wasn’t the most welcoming host for Joel and Ellie but offered some precious advice to the protagonists.
Who’s Portraying Marlon in The Last of Us
71-year-old Canadian actor Graham Greene is portraying Marlon in The Last of Us. Greene is best known for his role as Kicking Bird in Dances with Wolves (1990), for which he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Greene also portrayed Arlen Bitterbuck in The Green Mile (1999) and Rafe McCawley in the television series Defiance (2013-2015), among many other roles.
Marlon first appeared in “Kin,” meeting Joel and Ellie after the protagonists broke into his home. Pretty much like Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen, Marlon’s character has no video game counterpart. He is a survivor who lives with his wife Florence (Elaine Miles) in their cabin, not paying attention to what happens beyond the walls, similar to how Bill and Frank opted to spend their lives. While their first encounter didn’t exactly start on the right foot, Marlon and Joel settled differences after Joel made clear his only intention was to find his brother, Tommy (Diego Luna). In fact, Florence even made soup for the uninvited guests and appreciated Ellie’s witty answers.
The Jasmila Žbanić-directed installment was the perfect moment for Marlon’s debut. Best known for her poignant portrayals of the human cost of war, the critically-acclaimed Bosnian director created an all-around character in Marlon in spite of his minimal screen time. Within a few lines, Marlon made it very clear he didn’t believe the cause of the Fireflies — the rebel group fighting against the military dictatorship — nor did he love the people living in the Jackson community like Joel’s brother. When Joel accused Marlon of hiding, the older man answered he lived in his cabin way before the Cordyceps outbreak, much to his wife’s disapproval. The pair warned Joel and Ellie of the dangers they might encounter if they kept traveling west before parting ways.