It's no secret that The Last of Us is getting a second (and potentially, a third) season. But will the cast also be replaced as the HBO series prepares for a major time leap in Season 2? Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have just confirmed that Ellie will not be recast and that Bella Ramsey is here to stay.
The showrunners recently took part in a press conference where they answered questions about The Last of Us Season 2 which will adapt the 2020 video game (via IGN). During the conference, Craig Mazin stated that there will be some changes made to the show.
"Sometimes it will be different radically, and sometimes it [won't] be fairly different at all, but it's going to be different," he said. Mazin then added that he and Neil Druckmann intend to explore the new storyline with Bella Ramsey as their Ellie.
"It will be its own thing. It won't be exactly like the game. It will be the show that Neil and I want to make, but we are making it with Bella," he said.
There's a good reason why Craig Mazin is making it clear that Bella Ramsey will still be part of the show. The Last of Us Part II takes place five years after the events in the first game and TV show. Since Ellie is notably older in the game, people have started wondering whether the HBO series will hire an older actor.
"We are extremely lucky to have Bella and the stuff you saw throughout this entire season," Druckmann added. "The only way we would ever, ever consider recasting Bella is if she said, 'I don't want to work with you guys anymore.' Even then, I'm not sure we would grant her that. We might still force her to come back to Season 2."
Mazin then pointed out that Ramsey is actually the right age to play the older Ellie. "[Ramsey]'s 19 now, which - by the way - is the age of Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2," he said.
This is great news and we can't wait to see Ellie in action again in The Last of Us Season 2.
All episodes of The Last of Us Season 1 are now streaming on HBO Max.
Related: The Last of Us Episode 9 Concludes With Joel's Game-Changing Decision
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