Maisie Williams and Kaitlyn Dever were both up for the role of Ellie in The Last of Us before the two aged out of the long-gestating project.
Given the tremendously high budget and expectations from fans, there must certainly have been a lot of pressure on the creators of The Last of Us on HBO to get the adaptation right. For years, there have been efforts to adapt the hit video game, and the original plan was to make The Last of Us as a movie. However, as time went on, the adaptation finally found its way to HBO, where it evolved into a television series. The premium cabler has put a lot of investment into the show, as it’s one of the most expensive TV series ever made.
Playing opposite Pedro Pascal’s Joel in the series is Bella Ramsey’s Ellie. Speaking about the casting in a new interview with THR, game developer Neil Druckmann, who also created the TV adaptation with Craig Mazin, also confirmed that there had previously been consideration to cast both Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) and Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) in the role. This happened when the project was still planned as a feature film, but because the adaptation couldn’t get out of development hell, both fan favorites had already gotten too told to play the teen character by the time casting was underway for the HBO series.
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According to Druckmann, he’d spoken with Williams about having her play the role early in the process. As far back as 2014, Williams had publicly stated her desire to play that role, fueling a fan campaign at the time to make it happen. However, years would pass, and Dever emerged as another popular candidate with fans to play Ellie due to her physical similarities to the character coupled with her acclaimed acting. Dever also addressed the possible casting in 2020.
“Listen, I am a huge fan of the game, and I don’t know if a lot of people know that, but I’m saying it now; I am a huge fan of that video game,” she told Collider. “I’m not shutting it down, you know? I’m not shutting it down. I would absolutely love to do that. But I don’t know where it’s at yet. But I love The Last Of Us.”
Dever came much closer than Williams to getting the dream role. Druckmann says that Dever got as far as actually having a table read for the unmade film. As with Williams, the problem was that the adaptation was just taking too long to get made, ultimately leaving Druckmann and Mazin to consider other names. That led to auditioning “dozens and dozens” of different hopefuls for the part.
Related: The Last of Us Showrunner Calls Bella Ramsey the ‘Best Ellie Ever’
Bella Ramsey Ultimately Got the Role
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Druckmann and Mazin were thrilled when they saw Bella Ramsey’s audition. Mazin realized that “Bella felt so real,” while to Druckmann, the performance genuinely seemed like the video game version of Ellie perfectly transitioned into a live-action version. While this is very unusual in casting such high-profile projects, Ramsey had apparently gone from “audition to securing the role” in less than a month.
“It was like Ellie realized in live action. It didn’t feel like watching an actor,” Druckmann explained.
We’ll see how it all turns out when The Last of Us premieres on HBO on Jan. 15, 2023.
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