Catherine O'Hara teases The Last of Us role with Pedro Pascal's Joel: 'She's got this edge' (exclusive)

The "Schitt's Creek" and "Beetlejuice" star tells EW about her introduction in season 2 of the HBO series.

Catherine O'Hara believes the best dramatic roles have humor to them. "You can't take that out of your life," the Schitt's Creek Emmy winner and Beetlejuice star tells Entertainment Weekly. "And when you do, it makes for a very dull performance." Her upcoming role in HBO's The Last of Us season 2 maintains that balance, she says.

O'Hara joins a stacked cast for the returning series, which now begins to adapt a pretty dramatic story arc from the video games on which it's based. The longtime funny gal, who also delivered comedic hits across Best in Show, Home Alone, and SCTV, will play a new character created for The Last of Us, which will premiere season 2 this April.

O'Hara appeared in the season 2 trailers, which gave the impression she's playing a therapist figure helping Pedro Pascal's Joel Miller unpack the decisions he made in season 1. Specifics, however, remain largely under wraps. 

"I have an odd relationship with Pedro's character," O'Hara tells EW during an interview pegged to her Super Bowl commercial for Michelob ULTRA. "You don't quite know why she's got...well, she's got this edge to her, but it makes for some weird, good dark comedy, I think. So it's there. I never want to deny the gift of humor."

The Last of Us season 2 picks up five years after the events of season 1, which earned rave reviews, award wins and nominations, and ratings galore. Joel, a hardened survivor, trekked across a pandemic-scarred America to deliver Ellie (Bella Ramsey), the only known person immune to a zombie-like virus, to a rebel group in the hopes of finding a cure. Now the two are living a peaceful life in the Jackson, Wyo., commune run by his brother, Tommy (Gabriel Luna), and his sister-in-law, Maria (Rutina Wesley).

The ghosts of Joel's past, however, clearly linger, hence his therapy sessions. In the season finale, he killed the rebels to save Ellie's life, knowing that act would leave the world without a vaccine.

O'Hara says she heard of The Last of Us through her two sons, Matthew and Luke Welch, who played the games, and then she watched the first season. One of her sons, both of whom are set designers, now works on the HBO drama. "It's so intense, and the second [season] is way more intense if you know the game," she says.

"I just love working with Pedro Pascal," O'Hara continues. "Both of them. Bella. Wow. Was that intimating? It always is. It's not my territory.... You're just like, thank you for inviting me and I'll try to be a good guest. But they were very kind to me and it was great."

The new season will also see new cast additions Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, Spencer Lord, Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle, Danny Ramirez, and Jeffrey Wright.

Catch O'Hara alongside her Beetlejuice Beetlejuice costar Willem Dafoe in the Michelob ULTRA commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 9.