Showrunner Craig Mazin has commended Bella Ramsey for their performance as Ellie in The Last of Us, calling them "the best Ellie ever" and a clear choice in the selection of over 100 actors.
When You're Lost in the Darkness, the first episode of the show, has been a historic achievement for HBO and Sony. Securing 10 million viewers in only two days, The Last of Us gets off to a nerve-shredding start even for players of the original game. And, added details that both flesh out the world and tie into the remainder of the video game series shows a reverence for the experience of playing The Last of Us, rather than a scene-for-scene recreation. While Nico Parker's portrayal of Sarah got heaps and heaps of praise, Bella Ramsey has captured hearts for their angsty and humorous turn as Ellie, and the showrunners couldn't be prouder of either of them.
Check out what watchers can look forward to in the rest of the show:
Sarah acts as a symbol of the world before whereas Ellie has been created by it. The sharpest contrast between the two is seen when Sarah balks in fear after Joel kills their infected neighbour but Ellie stares in admiration when he inflicts his rage on a FEDRA soldier. As this relationship between Ellie and Joel is the beating heart of the show, Mazin said that it was a weighty undertaking to find the right fit for the role.
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"Ellie took longer because it’s a harder role to cast," he explained in an interview with SFX Magazine. "We’re trying to cast a 14-year-old girl and acting is an incredibly difficult thing to do, right? It’s an easy thing to do terribly. It’s a hard thing to do okay. But it’s a really, really hard thing to do brilliantly. And children haven’t had that much life experience. It’s hard to find kids that can embody this. Plus, she needs to be funny, tough, violent and protective of herself. She also needs to make us believe that she’s going to have this connection with Joel, so it took longer. We saw over 100 people."
Ramsey immediately knocked the socks off of the team but there was one small issue. "The only fear that I had was because I watched her audition before Neil did, I was panicked that he wouldn’t like it and I would have to live for the rest of my life knowing that we couldn’t have the best Ellie ever," laughed Mazin. "But happily, he loved her. And we couldn’t have done better. She’s just the most remarkable performer."
Featured Image Credit: HBO, SonyTopics: The Last Of Us, TV And Film