It’s hard to avoid the new wave of hostility towards transgender people across the globe, so it was only a matter of time until we’d be back to the old model of media ‘representation’: putting a cis actor to play a trans actor. We’ve seen it before, we complained, yet now it’s back.
What was not expected was that it would happen to the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us, which had famously been handling many queer themes very well, with even a queer actor starring as Ellie.
The Last of Us franchise had a strong record in this matter. Naughty Dog cast nonbinary actor Ian Alexander (famous for playing a trans role in The OA series) for the role of transgender man Lev. Unfortunately, the live-action adaptation is stripping Lev of the dignity of an appropriate portrayal by casting a cisgender woman, Kyriana Kratter, in the role.
The Last of Us had famously been handling many queer themes very well
Women playing transgender men is not a new thing. One of the earliest famous examples in Hollywood was Hilary Swank portraying Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry (1999). I hoped that we had walked back from such practices because it just reinforces the transphobic idea that trans men are just ‘confused women’.
Failing at the Basics
Casting a woman in a male role is a step backwards in general, but it stands out in particular in a TV show with a strong queer and trans story. HBO had the chance to shed light on a trans story with dignity by casting a trans actor or at least someone who identifies as a man at all (as the German movie Romeos has done in the past).
Without going into spoilers, we know that Lev’s gender identity plays a major role in The Last of Us Part II. Doing the game’s story and characters justice starts with respectful casting, and the decision to forego a trans actor for the role has generated plenty of disappointment since the announcement.
Sadly, TV execs and directors have not responded to any of it, and continue the trend of ignoring that trans issues exist at all. We can only hope that we won’t get more cis women actors in the roles of trans men and that this is just a misstep on HBO’s part, rather than a trend.
