Who Is Isaac? Jeffrey Wright’s ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Character, Explained

Sunday’s episode of “The Last of Us” Season 2 introduces viewers to Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright), a former FEDRA soldier who turned on the governmental force in favor of joining Seattle’s Washington Liberation Front (W.L.F.). Throughout the episode, he blows up an entire squad of soldiers who had pledged their loyalty to him and tortures, interrogates and kills a bruised, battered member of the Seraphites (Ryan Masson), a.k.a. Scars.

Isaac, consequently, makes quite the impression in the episode, thanks in no small part to Wright’s reliably magnetic screen presence. What viewers might know is that Isaac is a character that Wright himself actually played in 2020’s “The Last of Us Part II,” the video game that inspired the HBO series’ second season. Isaac is an important figure within the franchise’s dystopian world and he will play a pivotal role in its story from here on out.

Who is Isaac in “The Last of Us” Season 2?

Isaac is the totalitarian leader of the Washington Liberation Front (W.L.F.). He leads, as viewers discover in “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4, with an absolutely iron fist. He executes W.L.F. deserters, tortures Scars for information and demands complete loyalty to the W.L.F. from anyone who lives in Seattle. Video game players even learn through discoverable artifacts and items that Isaac coldly banished anyone from the city who was not willing to swear their allegiance to the W.L.F.

He is an unbending militaristic figure, and a considerable force to be reckoned with, especially now that Ellie and Dina have ventured into his domain while it is in the middle of an unending war. HBO’s “The Last of Us” has, notably, already fleshed out Isaac more than its video game source material ever did, and he seems primed to have a much larger presence in the show.

That said, it does not seem likely that the HBO series will diverge too much from Isaac’s overall video game arc. So, for those who want to know what happens to Isaac in “The Last of Us Part II,” keep reading. Those who want to avoid any and all potential spoilers for future episodes, meanwhile, should stop here.

What happens to Isaac?

By the time Ellie and Dina arrive in Seattle in “The Last of Us Part II,” Isaac has already decided that the only way for the W.L.F. to actually win its war against the Scars is to plan a full-scale invasion and massacre of the faction’s island located off the coast of Seattle. If he does not follow through with his plan, Isaac believes the Scars will kill and convert too many W.L.F. soldiers in the long run for his side to come out on top.

The seeds for this plan have already been planted in Isaac’s brutal interrogation scene in “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4. Unfortunately for Isaac, while his eventual invasion initially looks like it will be successful in “The Last of Us Part II,” everything goes wrong when he discovers Abby, his once-favorite soldier, protecting Lev, an exiled transgender Seraphite, on the Scars’ island. When Abby refuses to rejoin him and let him kill Lev, Isaac prepares to shoot them both.

Before he can, he is shot from behind by Yara, Lev’s loyal sister, who dies in turn. Abby and Lev escape the W.L.F.’s invasion, which ends with a full-scale retreat, while Isaac dies offscreen from his gunshot wound. Isaac survives most of the Seattle events of “The Last of Us Part II,” though, so it seems unlikely viewers of its HBO adaptation will be saying goodbye to Wright’s live-action Isaac anytime soon. Just don’t be surprised when and if he eventually makes his exit in much the same manner as his video game counterpart.

“The Last of Us” airs Sundays on HBO and Max.

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