Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 4, and The Last of Us Part II.
the Washington Liberation Front — and, more specifically, Abby. As it turns out, they don’t have to look very far, because the W.L.F. is a thousands-strong militia with a ruthless stranglehold on the city.
Whereas The Last of Us Part II is limited to Ellie’s perspective as she explores the city, the TV adaptation uses its cross-cutting abilities to show a glimpse at the W.L.F.’s day-to-day operations. Wright’s character Isaac is introduced as a FEDRA soldier in a cold open. He kills all his own men to reaffirm his allegiance to the growing W.L.F. movement and, in the present day, he’s the leader of the Wolves, relentlessly torturing Seraphites — or, as he calls them, “scars” — to gain useful intel in a brutal civil war. Who is Isaac, and how is he connected to Abby?
Jeffrey Wright's Isaac Is The Leader Of The WLF In The Last Of Us Season 2
Isaac Is Abby's Commanding Officer
Wright’s Isaac is the leader of the W.L.F. in The Last of Us season 2, so he’s Abby’s commanding officer. As far as Ellie knew, Abby and her friends made up most of the W.L.F. But when she and Dina got to Seattle and we saw a massive military convoy moving through the city, it became clear that this is a much larger group than she anticipated. Isaac is the one in charge of the entire organization, moving units around the city and strategizing their campaign against the Seraphites (and, now, their campaign against the tresers from Jackson).
Isaac's Backstory In The Last Of Us Part 2 Game Explained
Isaac Is A Minor Antagonist In The Game
Isaac Dixon is no glorious hero in The Last of Us Part II. Years after serving in the United States Marine Corps, Isaac began to use his military experience to resist FEDRA's unjust takeover of Seattle. His efforts to do so became more and more extreme, leading him and a few others to become the founding of the Washington Liberation Front (W.L.F.), also known as the Wolves. Isaac's share in the resistance at first mainly dealt with anti-FEDRA propaganda and robbery, but everything intensified after the W.L.F.'s original leaders were killed by FEDRA.
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Isaac became a brutal and unrelenting leader of the Wolves, encouraging many to the effort even as his tactics became more ruthless. He didn't stop until he regained control of Seattle from FEDRA, and even then, he very much maintained an attitude that the people would either listen to him or be killed. Though this would save their lives in a few cases, it was still an extreme way of leading them. Isaac remained like this as they entered a war with the Seraphites, a group of people who neighbored their own territory. This war utterly consumed Isaac.
Jeffrey Wright Is Reprising His Game Role As Isaac In The Last Of Us Season 2
The Acclaimed Actor Returns
Image via Max
Wright is one of the few voice actors from the original The Last of Us video games to reprise his role in HBO's adaptation, which promised an elevated performance from the accomplished actor as soon as his casting was announced. Even as an antagonist, Wright's Isaac is an extremely compelling part of The Last of Us Part II, making his continued involvement in The Last of Us season 2 even more thrilling. Those who aren't familiar with the video games, however, will be more familiar with Wright's roles outside The Last of Us Part II.
Jeffrey Wright's Most Notable Roles |
|
|---|---|
Movie / TV Show Title |
Role |
American Fiction (2023) |
Thelonious "Monk" Ellison* |
The French Dispatch (2021) |
Roebuck Wright |
The Batman (2022) |
Lt. James Gordon |
Broken Flowers (2005) |
Winston |
The Hunger Games franchise (2013-2015) |
Beetee |
No Time to Die (2021) |
Felix Leiter |
What If...? (2021-2023) |
The Watcher |
Westworld (2016-2022) |
Bernard Lowe |
Boardwalk Empire (2013-2014) |
Valentin Narcisse |
*This role earned Wright a nomination for Best Actor at the Oscars in 2024. |
Perhaps best known in the action world as Lieutenant James Gordon in 2022's The Batman and Felix Leiter in Daniel Craig's James Bond movies, Wright has built a career on his affinity for both on-screen and voice acting. One of his more notable voice roles is that of The Watcher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's What If...? animated series. Wright's tenure in the dystopian The Hunger Games franchise as Beetee likely helped to set him up for a role in The Last of Us' post-apocalyptic world, among many of his other impressive roles.
How Isaac Dixon’s Story Ties Into Abby’s In The Last Of Us Season 2
He's A Major Part Of Her Story
After Joel massacred the Fireflies at St. Mary’s Hospital, Abby and the other survivors found a new community in the W.L.F. Isaac took in the displaced Fireflies and gave them a new purpose: wiping out the Seraphites and reclaiming Seattle as their own. It’s a much darker and less noble purpose than creating a cure for humanity, but after losing her dad, Abby was in desperate need of a new sense of belonging, and Isaac took advantage of that. Isaac became a sort of messed-up father figure to Abby in her own father’s absence.
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Fueled by her rage and hunger for revenge, Abby became one of Isaac’s favorite soldiers, earning her a leadership position over time. His brutal tactics no doubt rubbed off on her along the way. Her need for the validation of this new father figure made her ruthless in the war against the Seraphites; she’s often described as “Isaac’s top scar killer.” When Abby got a tip about Tommy’s whereabouts, Isaac was the one who signed off on her pursuit of revenge and gave her the time and resources to go to Jackson and find Joel.
Her need for the validation of this new father figure made her ruthless in the war against the Seraphites; she’s often described as “Isaac’s top scar killer.”
But despite their shared violent rage, Abby and Isaac don’t always see eye-to-eye. Throughout the Part II story, Abby becomes more comionate toward the other side of the aisle and makes decisions that Isaac doesn’t agree with — even daring to defy his orders in some cases. This turns Isaac into a minor antagonist in the game, especially as his actions as the leader of the Wolves during the war with the Seraphites become more and more extreme.
What To Expect With Jeffrey Wright's Isaac In The Last Of Us Season 2
The TV Show Is Expanding On Isaac's Backstory
Much like it did with Bill in season 1, The Last of Us season 2 is expanding on Isaac’s character and backstory. In the game, there are plenty of notes and artifacts that Ellie can find providing hints about who Isaac is and how he rose up and took Seattle back from FEDRA, but the TV adaptation is able to show it. In episode 4, we see that Isaac was once a FEDRA soldier who turned on his own men and allied with the Wolves.
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Ellie never meets Isaac in the game — she just reads about him and makes her way through a few legions of his foot-soldiers — so he’s not a huge part of her story. He gets a much bigger role when the perspective switches to Abby. Isaac is plotting a ruthless attack on the Seraphites to end the conflict once and for all, which puts an extravagant metaphor for Ellie’s quest for vengeance in the backdrop of the story. But The Last of Us probably won’t get to Abby’s side of the story until season 3.
The Last Of Us
- Release Date
- January 15, 2023
- Network
- HBO
- Showrunner
- Craig Mazin
Cast
Joel Miller
Ellie Williams
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Writers
- Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
- Franchise(s)
- The Last of Us
- Creator(s)
- Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann
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