Isabela Merced is here, she’s queer, and she’s surviving the damn zombie apocalypse. First, she outlasted clickers and found love in a hopeless place in The Last of Us, and now, Isabela Merced will be leading us into another post-apocalyptic world: The House of The Dead.

If you haven’t ventured into the world of The Last of Us, you probably have still come across Isabela Merced in one major franchise or another. She’s in the MCU as Anya from Madame Web, the DCU as Hawkgirl in Superman and Peacemaker, she’s in Alien: Romulus as Kay, and she was even Dora the Explorer in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. She is booked and busy, is what I’m saying. Check out her filmography, and I can almost guarantee you’ve seen her in something.

And now, she’ll star in a new zombie film, The House of the Dead, based on the video game franchise of the same name. First released in 1997, the game has seen multiple iterations and many spinoffs, most recently in 2018 with House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn. Paul W.S. Anderson will be directing, and he is no stranger to zombie tales, having adapted one of the Resident Evil games.

It’s unclear at this time whether the movie will follow one of the many games’ plots and use existing characters or just be set in the same world (fun fact: the original villains of the first few games were all named after tarot cards like the Hangedman, the Chariot, the Hierophant, etc.) with original characters. Either way, Isabela Merced has proven she is capable of both the badassery and emotional depth required to tell a compelling apocalypse story, and I am looking forward to it.

More queer pop culture from the week:

+ Dafne Keen and Sophie Nélisse are in love in upcoming horror movie, Whistle

+ Hayley Kiyoko is teasing that the trailer drops tomorrow for her upcoming movie Girls Like Girls (based on her book, based on her song…it’s giving High School Musical: The Musical: The Series)

+ Rapper Da Brat and her wife Judy Dupart talk about how their relationship started, being parents, and the book they wrote about their love story

+ Lady Gaga and Pedro Pascal were among the guests Bad Bunny brought out during his epic halftime performance

+ Kristen Stewart is restoring the historic Highland Theatre in LA to broaden the horizons of film

+ Leah Lewis posted about Matlock being renewed for Season 3, which will include a new character played by Skye P. Marshall’s real life husband, and hopefully a new (or returning…where is Piper Curda!) love interest for Sarah

+ Larry (They/Them) is a documentary about the life and career of photographer Laurence Philomène and the queer subjects they’ve captured in their portfolio

+ Brandi Carlile spoke about why it was important to her to accept the offer, as a queer person, to sing America the Beautiful at the Superbowl this year

+ Harley Quinn‘s sixth season hasn’t officially been greenlit but Kaley Cuoco hasn’t given up hope yet so neither will I

+ Chappell Roan doesn’t want to drink from a shoe (Australia, you good?) but she DOES want to talk about being gay

+ Chappell also plays as Ariana Grande when she plays Fortnite, and hopes people do the Hot to Go dance when they win dressed as Chappell herself (I do…and as a side note, let me tell you how fun it is to roll up as trio all dressed as Pink Pony Club Chappell Roan, cowboi hat and all)

+ ICYMI here’s what was queer at the Sundance film festival

+ And now for what will seem like shameless self promotion but I do genuinely think you might be interested in: I have written about the shows Ponies and School Spirits since I last came to you with pop culture links, the first has a sexy sapphic spy subplot and the second has a sweet non-binary coming out and I think you’ll enjoy them both!