How Old Is Ellie in ‘The Last of Us’ Compared to Bella Ramsey?
Bella Ramsey received a ton of praise for her performance as Ellie Williams in The Last of Us after its debut on HBO and HBO Max on Jan. 15. In the show, which adapts Naughty Dog’s 2013 video game of the same name, Ellie is a young teen who must travel with smuggler Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) across a post-apocalyptic U.S. There’s something special about Ellie that could make her part of the cure for the deadly Cordyceps brain infection. Many people were considered to play Ellie in The Last of Us, but Bella Ramsey won the role, in part due to her age. Here’s how old she is compared to her character.
Ellie’s age in ‘The Last of Us’ game and TV show
In The Last of Us video game, Ellie is said to be 14 years old when she meets Joel. Their journey across the U.S. takes about a year, so she’s likely closer to 15 years old by the end of the first game. Then, in The Last of Us Part II, Ellie is 19 years old.
The games never specify Ellie’s birthday, but she was born sometime in 2019 — six years into the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak. Her mother, Anna, died after giving birth to Ellie. Ellie grew up in Boston’s quarantine zone as an orphan and received her education in a military prep school.
Meanwhile, Ellie’s age in The Last of Us on HBO is still 14. However, the timeline is slightly different. On the show, the pandemic began in 2003 and picks up with Ellie and Joel 20 years later in the present day. So, that means Ellie was born in 2009.
How old is Bella Ramsey today?
In real life, Ramsey is slightly older than her character. She was born on Sept. 30, 2003, making her 19 years old when HBO released The Last of Us. However, Ramsey had her breakout moment years prior to playing Ellie. She landed her first TV role at age 11, Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones, and became a fan-favorite.
Bella Ramsey’s age factored into her getting the part of Ellie
Casting someone to play Ellie was no easy task for The Last of Us creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. Mazin revealed to SFX Magazine (via CBR) that more than 100 people auditioned to play Ellie.
“Now we’re looking for a child, or somebody that can convincingly portray a child, who has this preternatural wisdom with this impossible combination of youth and experience,” Mazin explained. “Plus, she needs to be funny, tough, violent, and protective of herself. She also needs to make us believe that she’s going to have this connection with Joel, so it took longer. We saw over 100 people.”
Early considerations for the role of Ellie included fellow Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams, 25, and Dopesick star Kaitlyn Dever, 26, who even made it as far as a table read. Both Williams and Dever had aged out of the role by the time The Last of Us fell into HBO’s hands. So, the role went to Bella Ramsey.
In addition to being the right age, Ramsey perfectly captured Ellie’s essence. Mazin said his “only fear” was that Druckmann wouldn’t approve of Ramsey, but “he loved her.”
“I was panicked that he wouldn’t like it and I would have to live for the rest of my life knowing that we couldn’t have the best Ellie ever,” Mazin added, per GamesRadar. “But happily, he loved her. And we couldn’t have done better. She’s just the most remarkable performer.”
New episodes of The Last of Us drop every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max. Check out the full release schedule for more details.
