--- description: How Season 2 of HBO's hit series puts a new spin on a pivotal character from The Last of Us video game franchise. title: The Last of Us Episode 4: What to Know About Isaac image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltace7300e19d79928/6998c632c8dcb4685ab50162/The-Last-of-Us-Jeffrey-Wright.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Television](/tag/television/) ## Television Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Episode 4 of _The Last of Us_ Season 2 Puts a New Spin on a Pivotal Video Game Character ## Video: The Last Of Us Season 2 | Official Trailer | Max [Watch (HLS stream): The Last Of Us Season 2 | Official Trailer | Max](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oyerkArW.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2025-04-07. How Season 2 of HBO's hit series puts a new spin on a pivotal character from The Last of Us video game franchise._  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer May 5, 2025 2:00 AM CUT  Jeffrey Wright as Isaac in Episode 4 of The Last of Us Season 2. Jeffrey Wright as Isaac in Episode 4 of The Last of Us Season 2.Liane Hentscher—HBO  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer May 5, 2025 2:00 AM CUT **_Warning: This post contains spoilers for Episode 4 of_** [**The Last of Us** **_Season 2_**](https://time.com/7273394/the-last-of-us-season-2-review-hbo/ "undefined")**_._** Ellie ([Bella Ramsey](https://time.com/collection/time100-next-2023/6308464/bella-ramsey/ "undefined")) and Dina (Isabela Merced) may have made it to Seattle, but it's clear they weren't aware exactly how much they'd be up against upon arriving in the city. Not only are there hordes of infected to deal with, but the ongoing war between the Washington Liberation Front (WLF) militia group and the religious cult known as the [Seraphites](https://time.com/7280424/the-last-of-us-season-2-episode-3-the-seraphites/ "undefined") (or, as the Wolves call them, the Scars) has turned Seattle's streets into a violent battleground. As we learn in Episode 4, one of the people at the center of this fight is Isaac Dixon ([Jeffrey Wright](https://time.com/6964713/jeffrey-wright/ "undefined"), who also voiced the character in _The Last_ of _Us Part II_ video game), the ruthless leader of the WLF who holds an uncompromising stance about how the Seraphites should be dealt with. We see this attitude laid bare in a scene based on a sequence from the game in which Isaac brutally tortures a captive Scar before shooting him in the head when he taunts him about the number of people defecting from the WLF to the Seraphites. In the game, Isaac is a former U.S. Marine who became the leader of the WLF following the so-called Thursday Market Massacre, an incident that saw Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA) soldiers open fire on Seattle residents peacefully protesting Quarantine Zone food shortages and flipped civilian support from the military to the Wolves. This was also after FEDRA had hunted down and killed the founders of the WLF, Emma and James Patterson.  Jeffrey Wright as Isaac in Episode 4 of The Last of Us Season 2. Liane Hentscher—HBO FEDRA pulled out of the city soon after, leaving Isaac in control of Seattle. However, as people continued to starve and the conflict with the Seraphites began to escalate, Isaac's reign became more and more dictatorial. Episode 4 flips the script of Isaac's WLF beginnings a bit, suggesting that he was originally a FEDRA commander who switched sides after witnessing the military's inhumane treatment of Seattle's citizens. "People have asked...whether we’ll get a little bit of a backstory about Isaac," Wright teased of the moment in a November interview with [TVLine](https://tvline.com/interviews/jeffrey-wright-the-last-of-us-season-2-isaac-the-agency-interview-1235381808/ "undefined"). "We might. It might not be pretty.” Isaac's storyline will also tie into Abby's character arc as, in the game, Isaac is the one who took Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and the rest of the Salt Lake City crew in when they arrived in Seattle after Joel (Pedro Pascal) murdered the other Fireflies. He is also who turned her into a soldier and allowed her to go to Jackson to seek revenge for what Joel had done. In Episode 2, Abby made reference to a code of ethics her commander in Seattle (presumably Isaac) taught her decreeing that you shouldn't kill people who can't defend themselves. Unfortunately, neither she nor Isaac seems to take that mandate too seriously. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7281564/the-last-of-us-season-2-episode-4-isaac-jeffrey-wright/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7281564/the-last-of-us-season-2-episode-4-isaac-jeffrey-wright/"},"headline":"How Episode 4 of The Last of Us Season 2 Puts a New Spin on a Pivotal Video Game Character","datePublished":"2025-05-05T02:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:51:21.872Z","description":"How Season 2 of HBO's hit series puts a new spin on a pivotal character from The Last of Us video game franchise.","url":"https://time.com/7281564/the-last-of-us-season-2-episode-4-isaac-jeffrey-wright/","keywords":["Television","Explainer","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltace7300e19d79928/6998c632c8dcb4685ab50162/The-Last-of-Us-Jeffrey-Wright.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltace7300e19d79928/6998c632c8dcb4685ab50162/The-Last-of-Us-Jeffrey-Wright.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The-Last-of-Us-Jeffrey-Wright","caption":"The Last of Us Season 2","creditText":"Liane Hentscher—HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7281564/the-last-of-us-season-2-episode-4-isaac-jeffrey-wright/","name":"How Episode 4 of The Last of Us Season 2 Puts a New Spin on a Pivotal Video Game Character"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Last Of Us Season 2 | Official Trailer | Max","description":"How Season 2 of HBO's hit series puts a new spin on a pivotal character from The Last of Us video game franchise.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/oyerkArW/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2025-04-07T16:04:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oyerkArW.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/7281564/the-last-of-us-season-2-episode-4-isaac-jeffrey-wright/","duration":"PT1M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/7281564/the-last-of-us-season-2-episode-4-isaac-jeffrey-wright/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```