The new HBO Max show “The Last of Us” upsets viewers by casting Bella Ramsey as Ellie.
“The Last of Us” was originally a video game released in 2013 with a remastered version released in 2014. Then, in 2020 “The Last of Us: Part II” dropped, which then sparked a new surge of entertainment throughout the gaming community during the pandemic. “The Last of Us: Part I” exists as the game’s latest release which came out last year. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a fungus infection has spread across the globe, killing/infecting millions. The two main characters of this game are Joe, a hard headed adult male who’s lost a lot throughout the years, and a young teen girl named Ellie who’s sarcastic, funny and, as Joe would say, a smartass. The unlikely duo sticks together throughout the game developing a unique father-daughter relationship while trying to survive in a world full of infected people and fight off any other survivors who might harm them.
When HBO Max announced the adaptation of the video game in Nov. 2020, everyone was ecstatic and social media flooded with casting predictions. This gave viewers months to build the perfect cast in their minds as the announcement of who was playing Joe and Ellie wasn’t revealed until Feb. 2021. At this time, the press released the news that Pedro Pascal would be playing the role of Joe and Bella Ramsey would be playing Ellie. Viewers were very happy with the choice of actor who would be playing Joe as Pedro Pascal was successful in his role in the Disney+ show “The Mandalorian” as titular character. Viewers were also happy as they thought he looked like the character Joe from “The Last of Us” video games.
However, a large portion of the viewers were not happy with the choice of the actress who was cast to play the role of Ellie. It’s safe to say the community was split 50/50 on the idea of Bella Ramsey playing Ellie. And the reasoning was that many thought she wouldn’t be good for the role as she didn’t look like the character from the video games. Many thought that because of this lack of resemblance, it would cause Bella Ramsey to ruin the role of Ellie and make the show unsuccessful at capturing the video game correctly. The other half of the community cheered Bella Ramsey on as they knew she could live up to the personality of Ellie. This is because they knew Bella’s amazing job in the popular series “Game of Thrones.” where she played the young Lady Lyanna Mormont of Bear Island.
HBO Max released the first episode of “The Last of Us” on Jan. 15. where both characters were introduced and we were able to see just how accurate the show was to the game. Many viewers changed their opinion of Bella in her role of Ellie as she was just as sarcastic and funny as the video game character. Also, individuals from the gaming community have even said the show has done a really good job in portraying the game accurately while still adding to the story to make it better as a show. Although episode one changed a lot of individuals’ perspectives of Bella Ramsey, it was really the second episode where viewers were able to see just how perfect she was for the role of Ellie. Without spoiling anything, the episode expanded on this new relationship between Joe and Ellie and we were able to see both actors’ talent in making this adaptation of the game so real and accurate to the game. Viewers are now excited to see the rest of the series and watch one of their favorite video games come to life through HBO Max.
New episodes of “The Last of Us” are released every Sunday and you don’t have to play the video game to understand the show. HBO Max did a great job at making it possible for everyone to understand the story without the video games. But that’s not to say many won’t recommend playing, as the video games are very fun and have great storylines that we will hopefully see in this new show.
