The casting of Bella Ramsey in The Last of Us was always a bit controversial given that they didn’t much resemble the in-game character of Ellie. But as season one aired, they did a great job and channeled the character all the same, helping propel the series to be a big hit.
Season 2, however, is a bit different, and after a time-skip that moves things five years into the future, that results in a significant change in the looks and age of Ellie from the first game to the second. But on the show, it seems that’s going to be more difficult to convey.
New shots have shown Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced, who will play Dina, on set. While Ramsey does in fact have something akin to Ellie’s Part 2 hairstyle, the concern is that they still look too young for what is supposed to be a 19 year old Ellie, now much older than the 14 year old Ellie from the first game. Taller, sharper, more grizzled. Ellie is a hunter in Part 2, and often flat-out scary. The concern is that Ramsey won’t convey that here, and some are even saying they should have been recast with an old actor.
One issue here is that Bella Ramsey...just looks young for their age. They were 17 when they started shooting The Last of Us season 1, so a few years older than the character they were meant to play. Now, they’re 20, playing…a 19 year old. But Ramsey still looks as young as they did in 2021 when TLOU was start to film.
One question is whether or not there will in fact be a five year time-jump here, or if the show may change that to make it shorter. Though that time jump is kind of significant for the Abby side of the story for reasons I will not get into for spoiler reasons. And also in terms of age on that side of things, Abby actress Kaityln Dever is 27, older than the early 20s Abby is supposed to be. And she also looks younger. The question about her is whether the actress is going to significantly bulk up and get the huge muscles Abby has in the game. Bella has posted videos of them working out in the gym to try to get closer to Part 2’s lean and muscled look, it seems.
I think, like in season 1, we have to sort of disconnect the idea that these characters have to look exactly like their game counterparts. Again, it did not matter that Ramsey did not look very much like Ellie because they did a great job. Now, I don’t think it matters if the 20 year old Ramsey looks more like 15 than 19, or how big Dever’s biceps are going to be. The point is the story, the characters. If those can be channeled, like we saw in season one, that’s the most important thing.
Also this is…a blurry set shot. Not a full look at Ramsey’s Ellie look anyway, so even in that sense, it’s too early to judge.
