The Last of Us showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have addressed fan concerns over the casting of Bella Ramsay ahead of the time jump in the second season of the show.
Based on the PlayStation video game of the same name, the dystopian drama wrapped up its critically acclaimed first season over the weekend , with a second season already confirmed.
The show is set 20 years after a global fungal pandemic has infected most of the population, transforming them into frightening mushroom-headed zombies connected to each other with long mildewy growths.
The first season followed tragically bereaved dad Joel (Pedro Pascal) as he smuggled 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who is miraculously immune to the fungal infection, out of a Boston quarantine zone all the way to the West Coast in the hopes of creating a cure.
The co-creators have now addressed whether Game of Thrones star Ramsey will be recast, given that the video game undergoes a five-year time jump between its first and second parts.
Ellie flashed forward from aged 14 in 2013's The Last of Us video game to 19 in 2020's The Last of Us Part II.
However, Mazin and Druckmann have now adamantly rejected the suggestion Ramsey be recast for the second season.
"Let's put this thing to rest," Druckmann, who created the PlayStation game, said during a virtual press conference ahead of the season finale.
“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 two.”
He went on to note that Ramsey is now 19 and will of course be even older once the production reaches time to start shooting the second season. She was 17 when production began on season one.
Co-creator Mazin added: “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.”
Craig went on to say that although some aspects of the second series will be the same as the video game, others will be 'radically different' because they want the show to have its own identity.
“It will be the show that Neil and I want to make – but we are making it with Bella,” he added.
