Whether you’re a hardcore gamer who was there on the front lines when “The Last of Us” and “The Last of Us: Part II” first released on PlayStation or a newcomer to the HBO series, the franchise counts millions of fans who have encountered this post-apocalyptic story and fallen in love with the characters involved. By now, everyone knows the property’s heart and soul derives from the lovable dynamic between main leads Ellie and Joel. Much like the first game, season 1 of the show focused almost entirely on their relationship as they traveled from one corner of the infection-ridden United States to another. But with the release of “The Last of Us” season 2 (which I reviewed quite glowingly for /Film here), the scale of the adventure has now expanded considerably … and, with it, a whole ensemble of supporting characters for viewers to keep track of in the episodes to come.

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This being an adaptation, “The Last of Us” showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have every opportunity to expand on what the games first established — and that includes more screen time for its newest cast members. Kaitlyn Dever is already making headlines as the fearsome antagonist Abby while she goes up against Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie, but she’ll hardly be alone. We know we’ll be spending a lot of time with Young Mazino’s Jesse and Isabela Merced’s Dina, and even Catherine O’Hara as a new character named Gail. For our purposes here, however, we’ll be zeroing in on a key member of Abby’s group: Manny, portrayed by actor Danny Ramirez. If he looks familiar to you, well, there are some really good reasons for that. Here’s where you’ve seen him before.

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What could possibly be more jarring than going from the dutiful sidekick of Marvel’s most earnest superhero to a vengeful member of the group that’s hunting down our favorite characters in a landscape overrun by fungal Infected in “The Last of Us”? Danny Ramirez is no stranger to big swings, but audiences will most likely remember him most from his recent appearance in “Captain America: Brave New World.” Cast as the new Falcon named Joaquín Torres, Ramirez played a crucial role in saving the day from the film’s shadowy villain (the one pulling the strings behind Harrison Ford’s President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross). That wasn’t his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, as he originally played the same character in the Disney+ streaming series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” The end of “Brave New World” set up Joaquín to factor into the action even more in movies to come, as Sam Wilson is shown to be in the earliest stages of restarting a new version of the Avengers.

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Before that, however, Ramirez also appeared in another major blockbuster alongside the biggest movie star in the business — Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick.” Although not quite as central to the story, the actor portrayed a fighter pilot trainee by the name of Lt. Mickey “Fanboy” Garcia. (You likely recall the scene where he and another pilot lose a bet against Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, leaving them to sweat their way through two hundred pushups as punishment.) Although that may go down as his big break, Ramirez has been acting for much longer than that … including one underrated project that you should probably watch before “The Last of Us” season 2.

For those looking for a more expansive showcase for Danny Ramirez’s talents, there’s one film in particular that fans should put on their watchlists before “The Last of Us” season 2 arrives. In 2022, Ramirez starred in “No Exit,” which /Film called “a taut little psychological thriller” in our review at the time. The setup of the film follows Havana Rose Liu as our main protagonist Darby, a struggling junkie who escapes her rehab facility in the middle of a blizzard in order to visit her ailing, estranged mother who’s on the cusp of taking her last breath. When Darby inevitably gets stuck in the storm, she shelters in place in a nearly-abandoned rest stop with a handful of strangers — and quickly realizes that one of them appears to be in the middle of a sinister kidnapping attempt.

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Ramirez plays a beguiling stranger named Ash, one of several potential suspects who might be more than they seem in the (mostly) one-location thriller. Since this is a film best experienced with no spoilers whatsoever, we’ll avoid describing exactly how Ramirez’s character (or any others) factor into the plot. Rest assured, however, that the actor gets to truly flex his talents in ways that surprisingly complement his performance in “The Last of Us.” With season 3 already confirmed to be in the works, viewers can look forward to plenty more zombie action to come. 

New episodes of “The Last of Us” season 2 hit HBO and Max on Sunday nights.