Melanie Lynskey addresses criticism over physical appearance in The Last of Us

Melanie Lynskey has recently addressed criticism over her physical appearance in HBO’s The Last of Us.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Melanie, who plays Kathleen in the hit show, revealed that her character was a war criminal – someone who got into a leadership role she wasn’t expecting.

Earlier this year, Adrianne Curry, the winner of America's Next Top Model season 1, posted a tweet in over a photo shoot of Melanie.

Adrianne wrote, “Her body says life of luxury… not post apocolyptic [sic] warlord. Where is Linda Hamilton when you need her?”

To this, Melanie replied on Twitter at the time, now X and stated, “Firstly this is a photo from my cover shoot for InStyle magazine, not a still from HBO’s The Last Of Us.”

She penned, “I'm playing a person who meticulously planned & executed an overthrow of FEDRA.”

Melanie added, “I am supposed to be SMART, ma'am. I don't need to be muscly. That's what henchmen are for.”

During her interview with EW, Melanie reflected on her character in the series, saying, “The thing I found very interesting about her is, when she did step into the role, she didn't have a lot of guilt about doing bad things, whereas her brother did.”

“She found out that she was quite heartless, and so she was able to be pretty effective in a way that he maybe wasn't because she didn't care about people. That's a very interesting dynamic,” remarked the New-Zealand-born actress.