We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Why Bella Ramsey won’t be recast for The Last of Us time jump

With most The Last of Us fans desperate for season two, many are looking ahead as to how later seasons will include Bella Ramsey in the big time jump.

Bella Ramsey as Ellie in The Last of Us

It’s hard to believe that it’s over. For the past few weeks, The Last of Us has occupied our daily lives with its non-stop intensity and impressive storytelling, solidifying it as one of the best horror series of all time.

The thriller series has captured the imagination of life-long fans of the original survival game, as well as those unfamiliar to the original source material. But with The Last of Us season 2 release date already in the works, fans of the game have one glaring question.

Based on the theory that season 2 would take on the game’s sequel story from The Last of Us Part II, viewers were surprised to learn that the showrunners fully intended to keep Bella Ramsey on as part of The Last of Us cast, even with the game’s time jump. But it turns out, they have no intention of dropping Bella as Ellie, regardless of what some fans might think.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann addressed the impact that Ramsey’s casting would have on the subsequent seasons of the videogame TV series, strongly backing their choice of Ramsey in the first place amid the significant backlash that was initially received.

“It will be different just as this season was different [from the first game],” Mazin says of season 2. “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.”

YouTube Thumbnail

“When we made the game, I felt we were incredibly lucky,” adds Druckmann. “It was like lightning in the bottle that we found Ashley Johnson and I can’t imagine that version of Ellie being anybody else. 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’. And even then, we’re not sure we would grant her that. We might still force her to come back to season 2.”

We couldn’t imagine what The Last of Us would look like without Bella Ramsey, who has become just as integral to the success of the TV series as Pedro Pascal’s Joel. So no matter what the scale or scope of The Last of Us season 2 might look like, we’ll be eagerly ready and waiting to see Bella as Ellie again.

If you want to cram in as much of The Last of Us while you still can, check out our thoughts on why Joel is not the villain, our The Last of Us episode 9 recap, as well as our answer to the question: how many seasons of The Last of Us will there be?

And when you’re done with The Last of Us be sure and check out all the new movies coming out this year and the best streaming services to watch them on.