Bella Ramsey will not be recast for The Last of Us season 2. Neil Druckmann, one of the series' co-creators, confirmed the news to The Wrap following season 1's finale, which premiered on HBO Max on March 12, 2023.
"We are extremely lucky to have Bella… and the only way we would ever consider recasting Bella is if they said, 'I don't want to work with you guys anymore,'" Druckmann told the outlet. “And even then, we're not sure we would grant them that. We might force them to come back this season."
Speculation about Bella's potential recasting first started when fans pointed out that season two's storyline, much like the second part of the video game the series is based on, will feature a five-year time jump.
Many fans online theorised that Bella would be "too young" to play this version of Ellie. However, as co-creator Craig Mazin pointed out, the rumours were baseless, to begin with. "They're only 19 now, which by the way, is the age of Ellie in The Last of Us: Part II," Mazin told The Wrap, addressing naysayers. (For reference, during season 1, Ellie is just 14 years old.)
Mazin also emphasised how HBO Max's adaptation of The Last of Us has already and will continue to introduce changes from the video games. "Sometimes it will be different radically, and sometimes it will be barely different at all, but it's going to be different, and it will be its own thing," the showrunner added. “It won't be exactly like the game. It will be the show that Neil and I want to make. We are making it with Bella.”
Mazin had previously opened up about how Bella's casting became an integral part of the show from the very audition. "In my mind, I was like, if we don't cast Bella as Ellie, then I will go to my grave knowing that we could have made a better show than we did," he told Elle in January.
The Last of Us star takes Paris.
That said, Bella Ramsey wasn't initially as sold — they even considered turning down the role. "It took a long time, actually, for me to accept that I was Ellie, and that I could be her and that I was the right fit. It took me a good while, even after we finished filming," the star also told Elle.
However, they now feel like she could play Ellie forever. "There are no limits for me," Bella added. "They can do as many games as they like, as many series as they like, and I'll be here, flying back out to Canada." Suffice to say, season 2 is just the beginning.
This story was originally published by Teen Vogue.
