How Isabela Merced Became This Summer’s Breakout Star
It’s official: Isabela Merced is having a moment. Actually, she’s having a full-blown summer takeover. From slaying zombies in HBO’s The Last of Us to suiting up as Hawkgirl in Superman, to starring in the blood-soaked chaos of Alien: Romulus, Merced is beyond booked and busy. She’s breaking into a new stratosphere of stardom, on her own terms.
At just 24, the Peruvian-American actress is entering her fiercest chapter yet. And if you’re not paying attention? That’s on you.
Isabela Merced’s ‘The Last of Us’ role changed everything
In Season 2 of The Last of Us, which premiered in April 2025, Merced plays Dina, a tough, flirtatious orphan with a love for killing clickers, and a budding romance with Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Their kiss during a holiday party ignites the show’s emotional core, setting up a complex arc full of heartbreak, vengeance, and queerness.
“Dina’s hobby is killing clickers,” Merced told The New York Times. “I’d like to imagine that’s how I would be in the Apocalypse.”
The role was offered to her on the spot. No audition. No chemistry read. Just instinct.
“Auditions are cool, but they’re never really real,” co-creator Craig Mazin told The Times. “Sometimes you just need to go by instinct. And our instinct was spot on.”
Despite appearing in six out of seven episodes and receiving praise across Reddit and Screen Rant, Merced didn’t receive an Emmy nomination. Fans are still loud about it. One Redditor wrote, “She basically saved the second season from being almost unwatchable. The fact that she didn’t get nominated along with everyone else is ridiculous.”
Still, Merced remains focused. As she told The Times, she’s proud of Dina because the character reflects how she sees herself: “People see me and they’re like, What a small, cute little girl! But I actually see myself as a very strong person. I see myself as an intimidating individual.”
From Cleveland to Krypton: How Isabela Merced landed Hawkgirl
Just months after The Last of Us, Merced is making her superhero debut in James Gunn’s Superman, out June 2025. She plays Kendra Saunders, also known as Hawkgirl, a mace-wielding warrior with superhuman strength and a pair of massive wings. And according to Screen Rant, she’s already signed on to reprise the role in multiple DCU films and shows, including Peacemaker Season 2.
“I got to do the screen test with my other castmates,” Merced told The Hollywood Reporter. “It felt very professional; almost like a legitimate shooting day.”
Her Hawkgirl is funny, unhinged, and ferocious. As one Reddit user put it, “I love that James Gunn had her shriek like a lunatic as she flies around smacking fools.”
And she’s embracing the challenge. “I hope I can understand and take notes and continue training and just be healthy throughout it all,” she said. “Then I’ll be able to give the fans the performance they deserve.”
Let’s talk about that terrifying scene in Alien: Romulus
Before she suited up for DC, Merced was battling xenomorphs in Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus, a horror-sci-fi installment set between Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens. In the film, she plays Kay, a young scavenger who stumbles upon something nightmarish in deep space.
According to El País, Merced said the experience was “a difficult challenge,” but one she craved. “It was special for me to explore different levels of fear. You can explore in a film of this type,” she said.
To keep her energy up during claustrophobic scenes, she did cardio between takes. At one point, Álvarez dumped a bucket of freezing water on her to capture a raw, unplanned, and very effective reaction. “I started to shake, and it ended up in the final cut,” she recalled, laughing.
And yes, there’s one scene so grotesque that everyone on set looked away. Everyone except her. “Not one person stayed looking at that iPad because it was so disgusting,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “And I was watching it like this… I was so excited.”
What makes Isabela Merced different from other rising stars?
This isn’t Merced’s first big year. She’s been working since childhood, performing in Evita on Broadway at age 10 and starring as CJ in Nickelodeon’s 100 Things to Do Before High School. Her breakout film roles in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, and Instant Family established her as a force, but 2025 is different.
According to El País, she sees her steady rise as a blessing. “At 23, I feel like I have a lot of experience, but I love that it’s been a very slow build… I think I still haven’t lost that excitement in the projects I’m currently filming.”
She also has personal reasons for pushing forward. She changed her name in 2019 to honor her late grandmother, Yolanda Merced Salazar Pittman. “That woman had more strength than anyone I’ve ever known,” she previously told fans on Instagram.
Merced is also open about her identity and mental health. She’s described herself as queer, discussed her PCOS diagnosis, and shared that she attends therapy. In her words to The Times, she’s trying to “love more freely.”
Her calendar isn’t clearing anytime soon
She’s confirmed to return as Dina in The Last of Us Season 3. She’s also leading a true-crime heist thriller, Dutch and Razzlekhan, alongside Chloë Grace Moretz and Gabriel LaBelle. And she’s quietly developing Peru-centered projects she hopes to produce herself.
For Merced, this is just the beginning. As she told The Hollywood Reporter, “I’m lucky enough to be a part of these projects with the best of the best. I can’t believe it. I’m so in shock, and I don’t know when I’m going to wake up.”
But we’re wide awake. And watching.
