There is no excuse for not casting a transgender actor to play Lev in The Last of Us

After a lackluster second season that already made some unpleasant changes to its existing characters and stories, HBO's The Last Of Us has stepped into yet another rake in its own post-apocalyptic garden. Last week it was announced that the Seraphite siblings Yara and Lev will be played by Michelle Mao and Kirianna Crater respectively, with the latter being played by a transgender woman rather than a trans male actor as many fans had hoped.

The character was originally played by Ian Alexander, a trans-masked non-binary actor. Alexander was the perfect choice for an incredibly nuanced queer character who was what he was and deserves that level of respect. But, for some reason, HBO has decided to back away from transgender actors and allow a cis woman to be cast in the role of a young man trying to be his true self, even though it means risking everything.

Reaction to the announcement has been predictable and fierce, with many concerned about what it will mean for Lev's own story and the resonant themes expressed thanks to his hardships. By refusing to cast a trans male actor in the role, and replacing this potential actor with a cis woman going forward to play a character who will always appear as a young boy in the game's world, it feels like an unnecessary stab in the back.

Why Lev's story is so important to transgender people

Back when The Last of Us Part 2 was leaked before its release and was already being labeled enemy number one by gamers on the internet for its consciously awakened motives, it didn't take long for Lev's existence to come to light. I remember friends texting me while I was busy playing it for review to express concern that they'd heard it was incredibly transphobic, but that never happened.

Lev may be a trans person who's been put through hell, but everyone in this world is, more or less, and the persecution he faces for being transgender is an essential part of his character arc, even if he never speaks the words himself. Lev was born into a world that was already on its knees, and he still knew he was born in the wrong body and needed to do something about it, lest the dysphoria eat him alive from the inside like cordyceps threatens.

I was early in my own transition when the game first came out, coming to terms with my own trans identity just as one of the biggest games of the year was spotlighting the story of this ilk brighter than ever in Triple-A history. Lev is taken under Abby's wing without her own thoughts on gender. She knows this young man needs her help and she would be wrong not to step up.

The religious institutions that Lev had to escape due to his upbringing as a Seraphite are not far removed from LGBTQ+ people who often have to escape from toxic families and households in order to become their true selves. Yes, the situations here are fictional, but the story itself comes from a very real place.

The Last of Us Part 2 - Lev and Abby by the hotel pool

HBO and Craig Mazin must know this, and may have intimate knowledge of Lev's story and the role it plays in the overall story. You can sway your average viewer into thinking a trans performer is playing, or cross your fingers that they don't care, and this reaction can be buffered if the show retains its large mainstream audience.

Regardless, transgender people are being thrown under the bus, and I'm having trouble figuring out why. Not enough meaningful trans people auditioning for the role? It seems impossible when the casting call specifically asked for actors with queer backgrounds, but somewhere along the way, this authenticity was abandoned.

What Lev's casting means for us is the final season three

Public perception and legal rights of transgender people are in a strange place right now. In the six years since The Last of Us Part 2 began, Trump has bounced back from election defeat and entered his second administration as a frequent point of conversation on the campaign trail with trans people. In the United Kingdom, often seen as the epicenter of the debate on trans rights, more laws have been pushed to ban trans people from public life and more limitations have been placed on healthcare access. We want to be eradicated, and all we can do now is continue the fight and hope allies are willing to stand with us.

As a result, characters like Lev and the stories they tell are more valuable than ever when it comes to presenting transgender people on a human level. We are not giant boogeymen trying to hide in the bathroom, nor are parents of trans children desperate to try to pervert them for some kind of profit. We're just trying to exist in a world that, right now, doesn't want us. Lev's story is ultimately one of trans kids supported (and sometimes rejected) by their loved ones in the midst of extraordinary hardship, and I pray that HBO doesn't stop telling this story because of the current climate.

If you speak out against current political norms or try to tell a mainstream queer story in the current landscape, you're going to face a backlash, and in some instances, prominent political figures may come out of the woodwork to voice their disapproval. It's a story that already exists, but the HBO adaptation will expose many to Lev's story for the first time and ask them to empathize with the young trans character in the right.

There is no doubt that they are one of the good guys, and we would be on the side of evil for believing that this young lad should be returned to his religious fundamentalist community to either face punishment or much, much worse. If Mazin chooses to diminish any of the trances inherent in Lev's story, he is not worth telling this story. This character feels more in line with HBO's more Ellie-centric story of revenge rather than enriching the world like in the game.

Casting a cisgender actor to play him is the first step towards that unfortunate reality and Lev's character arc is going to be much less prominent than in the game as the focus is instead on other parts of the story. By doing so, you'll make the likes of Abby, Ally, and company even weaker than they already are because you're afraid to recognize that queer people exist and that their stories deserve to be told.

Lev is going to be the object of undeserved prejudice in HBO's The Last of Us if his trans story is given the respect and depth to match its excellent source material. Unfortunately, the casting of Kyriana Kratter feels like the beginning of a planned scaling of her queer identity and how that plays out in a fiercely powerful examination of the real struggles LGBTQ+ people go through. That will not change when the world ends. Now somebody go tell Craig Mazin.