HBO’s The Last of Us Fixes 2 Major Problems with Dina’s Character

Isabela Merced Dina

HBO's The Last of Us (2023-Present) is halfway through Season 2, and so far, the television series has made several changes. Neil Druckmann, the co-creator and writer of the video game and the executive producer of the television adaptation, has voiced being willing to change things in the show if the changes serve the story better than the game. So far, the series has lived up to this because the changes have made more sense than the game's counterpart. The various changes the show made to Tommy's story, for example, actually work better than his game arc.

Ellie's love interest, Dina, also got a bit of an overhaul in the HBO series. Dina still feels like Dina, but she comes across as a fully developed character with her own thoughts, opinions, and character arc. In The Last of Us Part II (2020), Dina felt more like an accessory for Ellie's story, but the HBO series saw these flaws in Dina's character and aimed to make her a more well-rounded addition to the series.

The HBO Series Fleshes Out Dina’s Backstory & Relationships

Dina Reveals the Story of Her First Kill in Season 2, Episode 5

Dina (played by actor Isabela Merced) wearing a rainbow jacket on The Last of Us

In The Last of Us Part II, Dina is portrayed as Ellie's main love interest and biggest supporter. When Ellie leaves Jackson in pursuit of Tommy, Dina goes with her. For a while, Dina even supports Ellie's desire to hunt Abby down to seek justice for her father figure. Dina's pregnancy and Ellie's increasingly alarming behavior eventually turn Dina away from the hunt for Abby, which inevitably causes a rift between Ellie and Dina. Dina's a nice addition to The Last of Us universe, but in the game, she almost felt like Ellie's accessory, rather than a fully realized character on her own.

The HBO series sought to correct this from the very beginning of Season 2. The series establishes Dina's significant relationships. Ellie is her best friend and also a girl Dina has a crush on, but doesn't know how to pursue those feelings. Dina and Joel have grown close. Although they don't have the father-daughter dynamic that Joel and Ellie do, they do share a similar bond. Joel is even willing to hang out with Dina and go on patrol with her. In the game, Joel only ever went on patrol with Tommy and Ellie, so this is a symbol of how much Joel likes and trusts Dina. Dina also has a complicated, on-again-off-again relationship with Jesse, a man in his early 20s who is rapidly becoming an important figure in Jackson.

Dina has no family, either. The series makes it pretty clear by the way Dina checks in on Joel and obsessively visits Ellie in the hospital that she sees the Millers as her found family. Dina was even the one out on patrol with Joel when they found and saved Abby from a horde of Infected. In the game, Tommy was the one out on patrol with Joel. Abby and her crew knocked Tommy out so they could kill Joel without interruption. In the HBO series, that role was filled by Dina. Abby's crew drugged Dina to knock her out, but she was there for Joel's death and unable to do anything to help him.

This change gives Dina a much more personal reason to get involved with the hunt for Abby. Not only does Dina support Ellie's desire to go, but she also makes all the preparations to get out of Jackson. Without Dina's help, Ellie likely wouldn't have made it very far, let alone actually succeed in finding the Wolves. Dina is just as committed to the hunt as Ellie is, perhaps even more so. When she realizes she's pregnant and shares the information with Ellie, Ellie immediately wants to protect Dina and remove her from a potentially deadly situation. Dina is the one who wants to keep going and insists this quest is important.

In Season 2, Episode 5 - "Feel Her Love," Dina reveals more about herself by telling Ellie about the first time she killed someone. She was 8, living in a secluded area outside Santa Fe with her mother and sister. Dina didn't quite understand the dangers of the world at the time, she only understood that being cooped up inside all the time was boring and no way to live.

Ellie: We shouldn't be here. We shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have dragged you here. You're having a f**king baby. What am I doing? Dina, do you wanna go back? I'll take you back. You don't need to do this with me. I'm so f**cking stupid.

Dina: You know, you never asked me about the first person I killed.

Ellie: Okay. Who?

Dina: When I was little, we lived in a cabin in a forest north of Santa Fe. And there were scattered families around, but mostly it was just us alone. And I would get so bored cooped up with my mom and sister, I would just beg them, 'Just let me play outside.' But my mom was scared, and she wouldn't let me go outside alone. But one day, I just f**king did, and I had a gun, so who's gonna f**ck with me? Now, you already know how this story ends, because I don't live in a cabin north of Santa Fe anymore, and I don't have a mom or sister anymore. But since everyone's past is f**ked, and we've all heard everyone's f**cked stories, how do you think this one goes?

Ellie: I don't know. Raiders?

Dina: Just one. And then?

Ellie: You got home. They were dead, he was gone.

Dina: Almost. He was still there. I heard them screaming, and I ran back with my gun out, but I was too slow because I was f**cking eight. And when he heard me, he turned around, and he looked really startled. And when I shot him, he looked more startled.

Ellie: F**k, I'm so sorry. I didn't know, I thought... How did you get to Jackson?

Dina: It doesn't matter. This is what matters. Whatever reason Joel gave those people to do what they did, he didn't deserve that. And I think, what if I hadn't snuck out? What if my mom and sister were beaten to death in front of me? What if that motherf**cker made me watch as he did it? Would it make a difference if my family had hurt his people first? No. No. And if I hadn't killed him, if he had gotten away, I promise you, I would have hunted him down forever. Forever.

- Dina tells Ellie about her first kill in The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 5 - "Feel Her Love"

This conversation never happened in the video game. Ellie had a completely different reaction to finding out about Dina's pregnancy in the game. In the HBO series, Dina and Ellie's mentalities are reversed. Ellie is more down-to-earth and rational. She's worried about Dina and cares about Dina's safety and the safety of their unborn child. It's Dina who validates Ellie's desire to keep going. It's Dina who insists that getting justice and revenge is more important than anything else in the world.

This major change is important for both Dina and Ellie. For Dina, fans get a better understanding of Dina's backstory, the horrors she's seen, and why going after Abby is important to her. It's not just about Ellie's wants and feelings. Joel wasn't just important to Ellie; he was important to Dina as well. Dina's angry, too. Dina wants this too. Most importantly, Dina can empathize with how Ellie must be feeling because she went through a similar situation. Dina got her justice and closure by killing the raider who killed her family, and she will do anything to see that Ellie also gets that justice and closure.

For Ellie, Dina's validation makes sense as to why Ellie locks into her goal. Ellie has been told no by her community, her friends, and even her uncle, but Dina has told her she's right every step of the way. Dina is even willing to put her own safety at risk to see the job through to the end. Ellie trusts Dina more than anyone else in the world, so Dina's firm stance on the Abby situation only adds fuel to Ellie's fire. If the series follows the game about Dina eventually pulling out of the mission, it will also better explain Ellie's inevitable crash out.

Dina Depicts a Realistic Coming Out Story

Ellie & Dina are More of a Slow Burn in the Series

One major change the HBO series made from the video game is how quickly Ellie and Dina's romance takes off. Ellie and Dina more or less become immediately romantically involved right after the New Year's Eve dance, where Dina kisses Ellie. This feels a little out of pocket since we know that Dina has been in an on-and-off relationship with Jesse for years. Dina is obviously bisexual, but she just broke up with Jesse, so rushing into a new relationship with her best friend just reads as a rebound instead of an authentic relationship. She also didn't give much indication that she was interested in women until she dived head-first into a relationship with Ellie.

HBO's The Last of Us approaches Dina's sexuality a bit differently. She still kisses Ellie at the dance, but it doesn't immediately blossom into a relationship. She even makes a few comments about how "Ellie is gay, and she isn't," indicating that she's struggling with her own feelings about being bisexual. As far as the audience knows, Dina has only ever been with men, so it makes sense that Dina, a 19-year-old young woman, is struggling to come to terms with being bisexual, especially when she's developed a crush on her best friend. Pursuing Ellie means giving up her relationship with Jesse, but it also means putting her friendship with Ellie at risk.

In Season 2, Episode 4 - "Day One," Ellie gets bitten while protecting Dina from an Infected. Not knowing that Ellie is immune, Dina prepares herself to shoot Ellie. When she realizes Ellie isn't lying about being immune, she kisses Ellie and they sleep together. The following morning, Dina confesses that when she thought Ellie was Infected, the future she was imagining with Ellie fizzled away. So, when Ellie turned out to be fine, she couldn't deny her feelings about Ellie anymore, nor did she want to.

"When I was little, I told my mother I liked boys and I liked girls. And she said, 'No, you like boys.' And it just... I got stuck. Even after she died, it... I tried to make things work with Jesse because I like him. I do. I think he's a really good guy. But he wasn't the one. Still kept trying anyway. Couldn't let myself just be." - Dina talking about her bisexuality

Dina's offering this tidbit about her mother's reaction to her attempting to come out really adds to her character. It also offers Dina a more authentic coming-out experience. She's had these feelings since she was young. We know Dina's mother died when Dina was eight, so she was extremely young when she first realized she might like girls. Her mother immediately squashed that as a possibility, instilling fear in Dina to never stray away from her mother's words. After repeatedly trying to make a relationship work with Jesse and almost losing the person she's actually in love with, she couldn't deny her true feelings anymore.

Adding this layer to Dina's relationship with her mother also helps her relate even more to Ellie's situation with Joel. Despite her mother shutting down an important part of Dina's identity, Dina still loved her mother. She killed her mother's murderer and swore that if she hadn't, she would have followed him forever to avenge her family. That helps validate Ellie's current position as well. Ellie's relationship with Joel was a mess. She refused to talk to him, engage with him, or forgive him, and now it's too late. Yet, she is still hunting down the person who killed him to get revenge. Dina proves that a relationship doesn't have to be perfect for it to be meaningful.