HBO has found its Ellie for their upcoming The Last of Us TV series.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, HBO has casted Ellie for their The Last of Us series. Ellie will be played by Bella Ramsey. Ramsey, who is 17, made her acting debut on HBO's award winning series, Game of Thrones. She portrayed Lyanna Mormont in the Emmy-winning drama. As of writing, Ellie is the only main character of the series to be casted. There is no word on who will play Joel, though The Hollywood Reporter did state that Mahershala Ali from True Detective did circle the role. However, a deal never came about.
The news that Bella Ramsey will play Ellie comes a month after it was announced that a director was found for The Last of Us. Russian filmmaker Kantemir Balagov will be directing the upcoming series. Balagov is mostly known for directing the dramas Closeness and Beanpole. Closeness was well received when it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017, earning Balagov the festival's FIPRESCI Prize in the Un Certain Regard competition. Beanpole was released in 2019, and earned Balagov his second FIPRESCI award, as well as the Un Certain Regard award for best director. The film was then chosen as Russia's submission in the best international feature film category at the 2020 Academy Awards.
Not much else is known about HBO's upcoming series. Craig Mazin will pen the show's script, and will executive produce the series alongside Neil Druckmann, who wrote and directed both The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II. It is expected that HBO's series will tell the events of the first game, though there has been some word that bits of the second game may make their way into the show.
The Last of Us will be released on HBO and HBO Max. The Last of Us was released for the PlayStation 3 back in 2013. The Last of Us Part II is available now for the PlayStation 4.
