HBO’s The Last of Us Casts Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal as Ellie and Joel

The Last of Us HBO has its stars, as Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal take on the roles of Ellie and Joel.
The Last of Us HBO has its stars, as Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal take on the roles of Ellie and Joel.

The Last of Us HBO series has cast its two lead roles. Game of Thrones‘ Bella Ramsey will star as Ellie Williams in The Last of Us, while The Mandalorian‘s Pedro Pascal will portray Joel Miller. 

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The announcements come from two separate exclusive reports — The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, respectively — which series creator Neil Druckmann quickly confirmed on social media.

Prior to The Hollywood Reporter’s scoop, unconfirmed reports tapped Moonlight‘s Mahershala Ali as Joel. The Reporter said Ali was in talks for “a role,” but nothing came of it.

The Last of Us casting news comes shortly after HBO and Naughty Dog confirmed Kantemir Balagov as the pilot episode’s director.

A number of supporting roles remain unconfirmed for now, including Marlene, Tess, and Joel’s brother Tommy. As yet, there’s no set air date for The Last of Us‘ pilot episode.

While it’s unclear how the HBO series will adapt Naughty Dog’s record-breaking games, there is some indication Druckmann and co-writer Craig Mazin plan to include Ellie’s full story and not just events from the first game. They delayed casting and filming in 2020 until The Last of Us 2 released to better align the narrative with what takes place in Seattle.

[Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline]

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Author
Josh Broadwell
Josh Broadwell started gaming in the early '90s. But it wasn't until 2017 he started writing about them, after finishing two history degrees and deciding a career in academia just wasn't the best way forward. You'll usually find him playing RPGs, strategy games, or platformers, but he's up for almost anything that seems interesting.