Li Jun Li joins The Last of Us

Li Jun Li has joined Season 3 of HBO’s *The Last of Us* and will play Miriam, the mother of Lev and Yara. (variety.com) Variety reported the casting on April 17, 2026. Deadline and IGN separately identified Miriam as a Seraphite, tying Li to one of the factions at the center of the story’s Seattle arc. (variety.com) (deadline.com) (ign.com) Lev and Yara are key characters from *The Last of Us Part II*, the 2020 Naughty Dog game that Season 2 and Season 3 draw from. Miriam was not a named on-screen character in the game, which makes Li’s role part of the show’s expansion beyond the source material. (ign.com) (collider.com) HBO renewed *The Last of Us* for a third season on April 9, 2025, four days before Season 2 premiered on April 13, 2025. The Warner Bros. Discovery press release said Season 2 would run seven episodes. (press.wbd.com) By May 2025, co-creator Craig Mazin was already signaling that Season 3 would shift toward the war in Seattle and spend more time with characters on Abby’s side of the conflict. The Television Academy quoted Mazin saying the next season would reveal “what this war is and why it matters.” (televisionacademy.com) That makes Miriam more than a one-line casting note. A mother inside the Seraphite community gives the series a way to show Lev and Yara’s world from inside their family, not just through combat or pursuit scenes. (variety.com) (deadline.com) Li arrives after a high-profile run that includes *Babylon*, *Wu Assassins*, *Quantico* and the 2025 film *Sinners*, which Variety and Deadline both cited in their casting reports. Those credits place her in a Season 3 ensemble that already includes Bella Ramsey, Kaitlyn Dever and Jeffrey Wright. (variety.com) (deadline.com) HBO has not announced a Season 3 premiere date. For now, Li Jun Li’s casting is the clearest sign yet that the next season is building out the Seraphite side of *The Last of Us*, one family member at a time. (press.wbd.com) (variety.com)