Finding the right person to play Ellie Williams wasn't just a tough job for HBO. It was, quite literally, a "theoretically impossible" task, according to showrunner Craig Mazin. Think about it. You have a character who exists as a digital drawing but feels more human than most real people. She’s a 14-year-old girl with the foul mouth of a sailor and the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Most of us knew Ellie through Ashley Johnson’s iconic performance in the games. Johnson was a woman in her 30s during the performance capture for The Last of Us Part II, bringing a seasoned, adult depth to a teenage girl's voice. When the Last of Us Ellie casting search began, the producers weren't just looking for a lookalike. They were looking for a soul.
The 100-Actor Search and the Game of Thrones Connection
Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin didn't just pick the first kid with a flannel shirt. They looked at over 100 auditions. We’re talking about a global search for actors ranging from age 10 to 26. The pressure was immense because, as Druckmann put it, if you don’t care about Ellie, the story simply falls apart. You can have the best clickers and the most expensive sets in the world, but if that central bond with Joel doesn't click, you've got nothing.
Enter Bella Ramsey.
Most people knew them as the fierce Lyanna Mormont from Game of Thrones. That tiny leader who stared down giants. When Ramsey’s audition tape landed, the search basically stopped. Mazin famously said it felt like Ellie had been realized in live action. It wasn't an impression of Ashley Johnson; it was a new version of the same spirit.
Interestingly, the production didn't want the actors to play the game before filming. They wanted something raw. They wanted the characters to live on the page first, not in a PlayStation console. This decision sparked a lot of debate among fans who felt the "look" was the most important thing.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Backlash
If you’ve spent five minutes on social media, you’ve seen the "not my Ellie" posts. Honestly, a lot of the initial heat was just weird. People were obsessed with facial symmetry and whether Bella looked enough like a computer-generated model from 2013.
But here’s the reality: The show was never trying to be a 1:1 mirror.
By the time Season 2 rolled around in 2025, the conversation shifted. The time jump of five years meant Ellie was now 19. Critics and some vocal fans on Reddit argued that Ramsey still looked "too young" to play the hardened, vengeful version of Ellie we see in Seattle. They wanted someone who looked more like the Part II game model—leaner, taller, more "adult."
- Fact: Bella Ramsey was actually 19 during the filming of the second season, the exact age of the character.
- The Difference: In the games, Ellie is stylized. In the show, she’s a real person who has lived through a famine-ridden apocalypse.
The backlash became so toxic that Ramsey eventually deactivated their Instagram and Twitter (now X) in 2025. They mentioned on The Awardist podcast that there’s no point in engaging with critiques that they can't change. The show is out. The performance is done. You either ride with it or you don't.
The "Almost" Ellies: Kaitlyn Dever and Maisie Williams
It’s one of those "what if" scenarios that keeps fans up at night. Long before HBO got the rights, there was a plan for a Last of Us movie. This was back in 2014. During that era, Maisie Williams was the top pick. She even publicly talked about wanting the role.
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Then there was Kaitlyn Dever.
Dever actually did a table read for the movie. She even toured Naughty Dog and saw early concept art for "Older Ellie" while the developers were still making the second game. Neil Druckmann said she had an "uncanny" ability to channel Ellie’s vibe.
But movies take forever. By the time the project pivoted to a TV series, both Williams and Dever had aged out of playing a 14-year-old. It’s one of the great ironies of the Last of Us Ellie casting saga that Kaitlyn Dever eventually joined the cast anyway—but as Abby, Ellie's primary antagonist in Season 2.
Casting the person fans once wanted for Ellie as the person who kills [redacted] is a level of meta-narrative that only a show like this could pull off.
Why the "Look" Argument Falls Flat
There’s a segment of the audience that suggested Cailee Spaeny (of Alien: Romulus and Priscilla fame) should have been the Season 2 recast. They argue she has the "protagonist energy" and the physical resemblance.
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But recasting would have been a disaster for the emotional continuity of the show.
The bond between Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey is what made Season 1 a hit. You can't just swap out a lead actor because they don't look like a video game character. That's not how prestige TV works. The creators leaned into Ramsey's ability to show "quiet grief and escalating rage." Whether it was the brutal scene with Nora or the tender moments with Dina (played by Isabela Merced), Ramsey proved that the "soul" of the character matters more than the silhouette.
How to Think About Casting in 2026
If you're still hung up on the casting, you're probably looking at the show through the wrong lens. Live-action adaptations aren't meant to replace the games; they are meant to exist alongside them.
The Last of Us Ellie casting was a choice to prioritize acting range over aesthetic mimicry. As we move toward Season 3—likely coming in 2027—the focus is going to shift even more toward the perspective of Abby (Dever), but Ramsey’s Ellie remains the emotional anchor.
What you can do next:
- Watch the HBO "Inside the Episode" features: They provide a lot of context on why specific acting choices were made for Ellie's darker moments in Season 2.
- Listen to the Scriptnotes Podcast: Craig Mazin often discusses the philosophy of casting "spirit over image" in his episodes.
- Replay the games with the "Making of" commentary: It helps highlight the massive gap between designing a character for a controller versus designing one for a camera.
The reality is that Bella Ramsey didn't just play Ellie; they redefined her for a new medium. Whether you love the portrayal or find it jarring compared to the pixels, it’s hard to deny the sheer intensity they brought to the screen.