HBO’s The Last of Us TV series has cast its leading roles. According to Deadline, The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal will play post-apocalyptic survivor Joel, the man tasked with keeping teenaged Ellie safe. Ellie will be played by Bella Ramsey, who gave an iconic performance as Lyanna Mormont on Game of Thrones. Between the show’s complex storyline, creative team, and these new additions this may be the best video game adaptation made for TV since The Witcher.
The world of The Last of Us becomes a post-apocalyptic nightmare after a fungal outbreak turns a large chunk of the population into infected creatures. These violent and mutated people have no problem attacking any survivors who managed to go unchanged. Even if they avoid those creatures, humans can still get infected or die in a myriad of horrible ways in the world. These are the hellish circumstances that Joel and Ellie find themselves in during the events of the games.
After suffering a huge loss at the start of the narrative, Joel becomes a smuggler—he is a gruff and at times standoffish man who has no problem taking down enemies. Seeing as Pedro Pascal has played a similar character on The Mandalorian, we know he can nail this role. Joel meets up with Ellie, a teenager who can be sarcastic and naive, but when push comes to shove, oh, she’ll fight her way out of a bad situation. While Lyanna Mormont was far from naive, Bella Ramsey has experience playing tough young women who aren’t afraid to call others out. And as a bonus, she killed a giant on Game of Thrones. That experience will surely come in handy here.
The show will be written by the talent behind HBO’s Chernobyl, Craig Mazin, and The Last of Us video game’s lead writer Neil Druckmann. Mazin did an excellent job showing the horrific realities of a scientific disaster while never losing sight of characters and their emotional journeys, while Druckmann created an atmospheric world that gamers are still getting lost in. With their writing talent, and Pascal and Ramsey on board, The Last of Us TV show has all the elements to be an unforgettable trip through the apocalypse.
