Melanie Lynskey had the best response to someone criticising her casting on 'The Last of Us'

Lynskey plays Kathleen in the post-apocalyptic video game adaptation

Everyone's a critic these days - but the difference is that with social media, you have a direct line to those famous actors, actresses or musicians that you're criticising.

That also works both ways, as the person who had something to say about Melanie Lynskey's casting in new post-apocalyptic blockbuster 'The Last of Us' found.

Little-known TV personality Adrianne Curry responded to Lynskey's post of a cover shoot from InStyle magazine, which featured her in full glam gear and designer dress. Taking offence at her 'body', she said: "Her body says life of luxury... not post apocalyptic warlord. Where is Linda Hamilton when you need her?"

In episode 4 of 'The Last of Us', Lynskey is introduced as Kathleen, the seemingly mild-mannered head of a revolutionary movement against military authority FEDRA.

The 'Yellowjackets' star responded to Curry's gripe by saying "I’m playing a person who meticulously planned & executed an overthrow of FEDRA. I am supposed to be SMART, ma’am. I don’t need to be muscly. That’s what henchmen are for."

The tweet, however, sparked a longer conversation about characters and stereotypes. Lynskey said that she was most excited about playing a character that went against what you might expect in such a series - and that her casting "suggested the possibility of a future in which people start listening to the person with the best ideas. Not the coolest or the toughest person. The organiser. The person who knows where everything is. The person who is doing the planning. The person who can multitask. The one who’s decisive."

She added that much of the stereotyping in such cases was gendered.

"Women, and especially women in leadership positions, are scrutinized incessantly. Her voice is too shrill. Her voice is too quiet. She pays too much attention to how she looks. She doesn’t pay enough attention to how she looks. She’s too angry. She’s not angry enough," she wrote. "I was excited at the idea of playing a woman who had, in a desperate and tragic time, jumped into a role she had never planned on having and nobody else had planned on her having, and then she actually got shit done.

"I wanted her to look like she should have a notepad on her at all times. I wanted her to be feminine, and soft-voiced, and all the things that we’ve been told are “weak”. Because honestly, fuck that."

Read her tweets in full below: