The Last of Us creators stand by Bella Ramsey casting over season 2 time-jump complaints
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The Last of Us showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann want to address one element of the fandom discourse that seems to be on their mind of late. "Let's put this thing to rest," Druckmann firmly stated during a virtual press conference that played out over Zoom ahead of the season finale.
Apparently, there's a swath of The Last of Us viewers who assumed the show's star Bella Ramsey would be recast in season 2 and beyond. The belief was based on the fact that season 1 tackled the events of 2013's The Last of Us video game and season 2 will at least start adapting the events of 2020's The Last of Us Part II. (Who knows how many seasons it will take to do the whole thing.) There's a five-year time-jump in between the games, during which Ellie visibly changes from 14 to 19 years old.
Mazin and Druckmann are adamantly against the idea of recasting Ramsey in season 2. When asked about Ramsey in relation to the games' time-jump, they pointed out that Ramsey is in fact 19 years old now, the same age of Ellie in Part II, which also means she will be even older by the time cameras start rolling on season 2.
"One of the things about the casting process that's tough is that we invite people to join us on this process, and we know everything [about the secrets of the production] and nobody else knows anything except what they know, which is the game," Mazin explained. "We know what we're gonna do in terms of costume and makeup and hair, but more importantly, we also know the spirit and soul of the actor."
Liane Hentscher/HBO Bella Ramsey's Ellie in 'The Last of Us' season 1 finale
When Ramsey joined the production at age 17, Mazin remembered some fans complaining about how she didn't look like the character from the games. "I'm like, 'It doesn't matter. Watch! Just watch what happens.' And now they know," he said. "I think there is still this constant drumbeat of anxiety. All I can say to people is, I have so much anxiety myself about doing a good job on this. Just know I am also very anxious. If you're anxious about something, I'm probably anxious about it, which means we're talking about it and thinking about it."
Mazin also confirmed season 2 "will be different" from Part II. "It will be different just as this season was different [from the first game]," he continued. "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. It won't be exactly like the game. It will be the show that Neil and I want to make. But we are making it with Bella."
Druckmann also spoke up on the matter. "When we made the game, I felt we were incredibly lucky. It was like lightning in the bottle that we found Ashley Johnson and I can't imagine that version of Ellie being anybody else," he said of the actress who originated the role. "And then somehow we got lightning in the bottle again with Bella."
"The only way we would ever, ever consider re-casting Bella is if she said, 'I don't want to work with you guys anymore,'" he added. "And even then, we're not sure we would grant her that. We might still force her to come back to season 2."
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