The Last Of Us Bosses On Why They Never Considered Recasting Bella Ramsey As Ellie

The Last of Us Season 2 picks up five years after the events of the first season, prompting some to wonder if HBO was going to recast Bella Ramsey in the leading role of Ellie. The showrunners have now discussed this, saying there was never any chance this was going to happen.

"We've considered recasting Bella exactly zero percent," writer Neil Druckmann told GamesRadar.

Showrunner Craig Mazin said he and Druckmann never considered recasting Ramsey, who uses they/them pronouns, as Ellie.

"I've spent so much time with them, and I've watched them group. From a 17-year-old now to a 21-year-old. And at [Mazin and Druckmann's age], four years doesn't mean a damn thing. But 17 to 21 is massive," Mazin said. "So, Bella themself has changed and evolved quite a lot. It's funny--even my relationship with Bella... they were like my kid. And then it was sort of like you have to let them go a bit and now let them be their own person more. And that's why I think Ellie seems older, because Bella is older. And in fact, Bella is older than Ellie is in the show."

Mazin added: "So to us, it's always been less about physicality and always about the heart and soul. And I think they did an incredible job. We didn't actually do anything to age them up. We just wrote the character to be older. And, big surprise, Bella Ramsey portrays it gorgeously."

Druckmann went on to mention how part of the mystery of The Last of Us Season 2 is the mystery of what happened during the five-year gap between Seasons 1 and 2. "When you're watching Bella perform you can just see this maturity behind their eyes that... seems very simple and it's very difficult to pull off. Very few actors can pull it off the way that they have," Druckmann said.

The Last of Us Season 2 premieres this Sunday, April 13. GameSpot's The Last of Us Season 2 review scored the series a 9/10. "Like its first season, The Last of Us Season 2 is a heart-wrenching examination of the ever-shifting distance between right and wrong, and as a whole, it's well on its way to becoming the best video game adaptation there is," reviewer Mark Delaney said.

Season 2 tells some of the events of The Last of Us: Part II the game, but not all of them. The Last of Us Season 3, which hasn't been announced yet, is expected to continue the story of the game's sequel, and a fourth season could follow as well.