HBO's The Last of Us has found its Ellie and Joel

By Eric Abent/Feb. 11, 2021 9:12 am EST

Back in November, HBO confirmed that it had ordered a new series based on PlayStation's The Last of Us franchise. At the time, HBO announced that Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog and Craig Mazin, who was writer and producer on HBO's Chernobyl, would serve as the writers and producers of the show, but didn't have any casting announcements to make. That all changed this week, with HBO confirming that it has cast the roles of Joel and Ellie.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bella Ramsey will be starring in the role of Ellie. Most will likely remember the 17-year-old actress from her time on Game of Thrones, where she played fan-favorite Lyanna Mormont in the show's latter seasons, the surprisingly intense 10-year-old head of House Mormont.

In a separate reveal, Deadline confirmed that Pedro Pascal will be stepping into the role of Joel. Like Ramsey, Pascal is a Game of Thrones alumni, portraying Oberyn Martell in season 4. Currently, Pascal is starring as the titular role in Disney's The Mandalorian and recently portrayed Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984, so he can be seen in a lot of places at the moment.

HBO's The Last of Us seems like it's going to follow the story of the first game rather closely, with Joel first being tasked with smuggling Ellie out of a quarantine zone before the two begin a larger journey together. In addition to Druckmann and Mazin, Carolyn Strauss (Game of Thrones, Chernobyl) will also be acting as an executive producer on the show, as will Evan Wells from Naughty Dog and Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan from PlayStation Productions.

So, it seem that Sony will have a rather big role to play in the production of this show, which is probably good news for a number of The Last of Us fans who fear that an HBO show might otherwise stray too far from the source material. No premiere date for The Last of Us has been announced yet, but now that we have the roles of Joel and Ellie filled, we'll likely hear more casting announcements soon. Stay tuned.