By Ariana Fromm
Season two of The Last of Us has recently come out, reigniting fans’ love with beloved characters such as Joel and Ellie on the screen. It has been a little over two years since we’ve seen these characters on our screens. This show is an adaptation of the video game, which came out in 2013. The showrunners try to bring the game’s incredible narrative and emotion to life on the television screen. Due to the video game’s massive following and its impact on storytelling in gaming, the show is held to incredibly high standards. Fans have paid close attention to how the characters are portrayed and how their appearances align with the game.
Unlike in season one of the show, where viewers see Joel and Ellie getting used to each other’s company and then becoming a father-daughter duo while Joel tries to take Ellie to the Fireflies, viewers now see the duo living in a town with a five-year time jump, and their relationship seems to be in some rough waters.
In season two, the writers decided to keep actors Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, who play the main characters, the same, which upset some fans of the show.
“I think the casting for Joel and Ellie was perfect for the first season,” said Juliana Bastone, a fan of the game and show. “But to be honest, I think that they should have got someone else to play the older version of Ellie because Bella looks the same age.”
With the show having a five-year jump, viewers can tell that characters have aged; however, Ellie appears to be the same 14-year-old girl from season one, and it doesn’t help with how she acts in the show either. Not only are fans having mixed reviews on Ramsey’s adaptation but now with Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Abby in the second season; some of the negative reviews are also going towards her, as she doesn’t have the same physique as the game’s character.
However, fans such as Bastone have appreciated that the show didn’t shy away from keeping the scenes the same as the game, with some scenes being a one-to-one ratio. They didn’t add to the plot of the show to impact the storyline or make things more interesting, but it seems like they did take some things away.
“I disliked that they cut out the scene of Joel singing his song to Ellie on his guitar, which was in the game unless they do it later on in the show,” said Bastone.
In season one, with their dynamic being that of a father and daughter, they had many scenes together, plus there weren’t many other characters introduced at the time. Bastone said that one of the most impactful scenes she has seen so far is when Ellie tells Joel jokes from the jokebook she had found throughout the season. It shows how their relationship grows, as in the beginning, Joel sees Ellie as a mission that he needs to complete, and then he starts to open up.
Sarah Mednick, an illustration major at Syracuse University, said that she is happy with Ramsey and Pascal playing these characters, as they are portrayed as relatable and authentically embody who Ellie and Joel are.
“I think the casting directors did a great job choosing actors for the show,” said Mednick. “I like that Ellie and Joel look like normal people and not models.”
“I think the actors perfectly embodied their characters,” said Mednick.
In a 2023 interview with Hollywood Reporter, Ashley Johnson, who played Ellie in both The Last of Us games, said that even though it’s strange to see loved characters played by other actors, Ramsey and Pascal have brought their touch to them. Ramsey embodies Ellie so well that it would be hard for Johnson to see anyone else playing and doing the character justice.
“[Ramsey] has the essence of Ellie. She has the strength. I instantly felt a connection with her because we both care so much about this character,” said Johnson. “I don’t feel like anybody else could play this part as well as her, because so much of her already is Ellie.”
As Mednick has seen the gameplay of the first and second games, she knows what happens in the second season, so she is opting to stay away from this season for now.
“I don’t want to relive the horror of the second season, so I will be putting off watching it until all the episodes are out,” said Mednick.
However, the showrunners have said that they plan to change certain parts of the second season to better fit the television format, so who knows what is in store for the characters and fans of the show.
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Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal at the 2025 South by Southwest festival. Photo courtesy of Bea Phi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
