HBO's upcoming live-action adaptation of The Last Of Us has just made two massive casting announcements. Pedro Pascal, star of The Mandalorian, is set to take on the role of Joel Miller, while the excellent Bella Ramsey, best known for her performance as Lyanna Mormont in Game Of Thrones, will be playing Ellie.
The Hollywood Reporter first confirmed Ramsey's casting as the young Ellie, a girl who travels across America with Joel in the hopes of finding a cure that could end the Cordyceps infection that has ravaged the world. Deadline swiftly followed up with the news that Pascal would be be playing Joel. What a dream team.
"Based on the video game of the same name, the series takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed," reads the show's official synopsis. "Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival,"
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Chernobyl showrunner Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog Co-President Neil Druckmann will be writing and exec-producing the series together. PlayStation Productions' Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan and Naughty Dog president Evan Wells are serving as executive producers.
The casting of Pascal and Ramsey has been unexpected, to say the least, but the vast majority of fans are excited to see what these talented actors are going to do with the roles. Certainly, we can't imagine either one of them providing us with a carbon copy of the performances Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson turned in back in 2013 - nor would we want them to! HBO's The Last Of Us might be a straight adaptation of the games, but it'll be nice to see some twists and deviations along the way - and that starts with the actors.
There's no word yet on when exactly The Last Of Us will start filming, or even when the cast and crew will be allowed to do so given current events. For now, Druckmann has said that he's "stoked" to start working with Pascal and Ramsey - and we're stoked to see what the two actors will achieve together.
Featured Image Credit: Sony/HBOTopics: GAMING, News, PlayStation, The Last Of Us