Before Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) landed the role of Ellie in The Last of Us series, two other faces were considered for a larger adaptation.
There was a time when The Last of Us should have been a movie with an entirely different actress in the lead role.
Behind the scenes of The Last of Us
As revealed by Neil Druckmann, we came close to absolute disaster for the live-action adaptation of The Last of Us. In 2014, Screen Gems, a film subsidiary of Sony Pictures, wanted a zombie movie like there are in a pack of twelve. A brainless and sexy blockbuster with Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Dead or Alive…) directing.
But at that time, it was not Bella Ramsey, the current Ellie in the HBO series, who was in the sights. Naughty Dog’s VP recounted (via The Hollywood Reporter) that he had early discussions with Maisie Williams alias Arya in Game of Thrones and it is not the only one.
Kaitlyn Dever (unbelievableBooksmart, Detroit…) attended a table reading of the project. What happened to the two young women? The movie was canceled and by the time The Last of Us series was done, they were both too old. On numerous occasions, Internet users have chanted the name of Kaitlyn Dever so that she can precisely play Ellie in the TV adaptation.
As for Joel, before Pedro Pascal, it was the actor of Supernatural who went out of his way to integrate the series.
