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'The Last of Us' star Young Mazino on Jesse, the show's 'gentle monster'
Jesse is back in 'The Last of Us' Season 2, Episode 5. Young Mazino breaks down his character's return, his take on Ellie and Dina's romance, and his philosophy on revenge.
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This story contains spoilers for Episode 5 of “The Last of Us” Season 2.
Jesse is angry. He also has impeccable timing.
Just as Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) find themselves cornered by numerous infected inside an abandoned warehouse in the latest episode of “The Last of Us,” their reliable friend Jesse arrives in the nick of time to save them.
But mutant fungal zombies are not the only roaming threat in the world in HBO’s postapocalyptic thriller, and the trio immediately find themselves trying to evade attacks from the local militia as well as a mysterious cult.
Over a couple of video calls — including one in which he was surrounded by what looked like the lush natural world of the show — actor Young Mazino discussed his character Jesse’s rescue mission to Seattle as well as how “The Last of Us” has further propelled his rising profile in Hollywood. As for what happens in Episode 5, Mazino sums up the usually laid-back Jesse’s feelings as Ellie and Dina pepper him with questions about his unexpected arrival: “He’s pissed.”
“He’s really pissed off that they’re there to begin with,” Mazino says in a video call. “He knows the stakes. He knows how serious it can get. There’s a lot of s— on his mind but … for him, it’s about getting everyone to safety, surviving and then the emotions come later. Then we can hash it out.”
A patrol coordinator in their Jackson, Wyo., settlement, Jesse has an on again, off again relationship with Dina — “a situationship,” as Mazino calls it. After the horde of infected attacked Jackson, he became a member of the council that leads the community.
Jesse has come to the rescue, but “he’s pissed,” says Young Mazino.
(Liane Hentscher / HBO)
Mazino describes Jesse as “a pretty happy-go-lucky guy” in the earlier episodes of the season, as well as “a bit of a Boy Scout.” But as audiences see in Episode 5, he’s also a capable fighter proficient in firearms and equipped with key survival skills. Mazino says co-star Gabriel Luna (who plays Tommy) joked that Jesse is a “gentle monster.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” says Mazino. “For these people to survive up to that point, you do have to have a bit of that savagery and be able to turn that on. It’s just a matter of being able to switch it back off.”
Much like Jesse, Mazino exudes a quiet, gentle spirit through the screen of a video call. He references the stories of Anton Chekhov, the artistic philosophy of Pablo Picasso and anime like “Jujutsu Kaisen.” (“If ‘Vinland Saga’ existed in this world, Jesse would really f— with that manga” because of its themes, Mazino says.) He’s as game to discuss a dream blunt rotation among the Jackson community members as he is to contemplate the Asian diaspora in a postapocalyptic world.
“He’s so chill and mellow,” Ramsey says of her castmate. “I got to know him quite well and he’s so perceptive and so thoughtful about everything. I feel really lucky to have gotten to know him more than just the chill, mellow guy that everyone sees on the surface.”
The respect is mutual. Mazino calls Ramsey “an extraordinary individual” whose work ethic is No. 1 on the call sheet. One vivid memory: standing underneath some PVC pipes with Ramsey on set and enjoying a moment in artificial rain together.
“I was soggy and wet every day for hours on end,” Mazino says of filming the show’s Seattle-set episodes. “And as soon as you’re about to dry, they wet you down again. What helps is having someone like Bella Ramsey, who maintains this levity. So despite being wet and soggy and miserable all day, being miserable with someone that’s just as miserable and wet as you really helps.”
“The Last of Us” marks Mazino’s highest-profile project yet. After years of trying to make it as an actor, Mazino got his breakout role in the 2023 limited series “Beef,” where he portrays a slacker who falls for his older brother’s road-rage nemesis. His performance earned him an Emmy nomination.
His familiarity with “The Last of Us” initially stemmed from watching YouTube videos of the game’s story scenes. But before meeting showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for the project, Mazino bought a used PlayStation 4 to play through the key moments of Jesse’s story.
Young Mazino calls “The Last of Us” a rare opportunity.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
“When I told Craig I played through the game hoping he would be pleasantly surprised, he was like, ‘I wish you actually didn’t play the game at all,’” Mazino says.
Preparation for the role included going “crazy at the gym for a few months,” Mazino says. He also received weapons training and learned to ride a horse.
“I’ve been on many sets in the last 10 years and I’m aware of how rare this kind of opportunity is,” Mazino says. “My expectation for writing and storytelling became very high after ‘Beef,’ and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find something to match that. But ‘The Last of Us’ came my way and I love getting to explore different facets of myself through character.”
Jesse has a soft spot for Ellie, whom he initially meets as a prickly outsider cut from similar cloth, Mazino says. Both are loners who’d rather avoid the spotlight — particularly at parties. But Jesse also recognizes Ellie’s inner fire and potential.
“Jesse finds Ellie so interesting and amusing and endearing,” Mazino says. “To be this small, petite girl and have so much vitriol and fire and angst. I think Jesse wants to help Ellie harness all that intense energy that she has and put it to good use.”
The pair also share an attraction to Dina, who is a bit more social and warm and seemingly carefree. And though Jesse did not seem to mind Ellie and Dina sharing a drunken kiss at a party in an earlier episode, the couple’s relationship has since grown more romantic and intimate.
Mazino believes Jesse has been fully aware that Ellie and Dina have been dancing around their feelings for each other.
“I think Jesse’s the type of person that understands that love is love, and it’s not something you can cage or latch on to,” Mazino says. “I think the healthy form of love is to allow it to flourish. .… Love is a spectrum … and maybe he recognizes that Dina is not somebody he may necessarily want to be exclusively with forever together. But there is love.”
Mazino insists that Jesse cares less about Ellie and Dina’s developing romance than he does the fact that Dina has followed her lover into a war zone.
“Love eludes common sense and rationality a lot so he’s just trying to be the level-headed one through and through,” says Mazino.
Jesse (Young Mazino) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) have different opinions about revenge.
(Liane Hentscher / HBO)
Jesse clearly opposes the Ellie revenge tour that has brought them to Seattle, and Mazino says their differing philosophies stem from Jesse’s appreciation for the community of Jackson. Because he was able to find a home in Jackson, Jesse’s response to loss is to grab onto what remains.
“I think he serves as a perfect reflector off of [Ellie for] how one copes with death and murder and violence,” Mazino says. “Some people, all they see is red and they want the revenge. But the other side of that choice is savoring what’s remaining and what’s precious to you.”
Ellie, he adds, is “all about revenge, revenge, revenge for someone she lost. But Jesse wants the opposite of that. He wants to maintain what they still have, knowing how fleeting it is to be alive in this world.”
While the world of “The Last of Us” is bleak, Mazino and his castmates found ways between takes to escape the heaviness. One form of relief: a shared love of music. Mazino, Luna, Merced and Ramsey all play guitar.
“We all brought a guitar without even telling each other,” Mazino says. “There was always a guitar on set or we would steal one from the set and get in trouble. We’d have jam sessions. Somebody would be playing some tune or a song, and if we knew it, we join in [or] we’d learn it.”
Mazino says that they all had eclectic tastes and traded songs “like Pokémon.” (Mazino’s contributions included Daniel Caesar, Frank Ocean and “some R&B stuff.”)
“It’s so difficult to maintain a heavy energy for 12 to 16 hours a day,” he says. “It really helps to have people that are able to laugh and crack jokes and be light and to play music … so a guitar is a lifesaver on a set like that.”
Young Mazino says Jesse is a “person that understands love is love.”
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
