The Last of Us: HBO series finds its Ellie in Bella Ramsey (aka Game of Thrones' Lady Mormont)

HBO has cast Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) as the lead, Ellie, in its upcoming The Last of Us series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Variety has also confirmed the casting news.

Ramsey already captured many viewers' hearts when she portrayed the young Lady Mormont on HBO’s Game of Thrones. In The Last of Us, which is based on the popular video game of the same name, Ellie is a 14-year-old orphan who may ultimately be the key to saving the world.

In Game of Thrones, Ramsey’s Lyanna Mormont — a 10-year-old girl who finds herself the leader of House Mormont — is one of House Stark’s staunch supporters, and she has no problem standing up to men many decades her senior, or even a giant during the Battle of Winterfell. That giant was sadly the end to The Lady of Bear Island, but just the start of Ramsey’s acting career.

Since her acting debut on Game of Thrones, Ramsey has also been on the television shows The Worst Witch, Hilda, and another HBO property, His Dark Materials. Playing Ellie — one of two central characters in The Last of Us — is arguably her biggest role to date.

Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) along with game creator Neil Druckmann are on board to write The Last of Us for HBO. Like the game, the series is expected to take place 20 years after civilization as we know it has been destroyed. Ellie is smuggled out of a brutal area by Joel, a survivor hardened by the brutality found in this world. What starts out as a small job for Joel becomes something bigger, and the two come to rely on each other as they face an unforgiving post-apocalyptic world. 

HBO first announced that The Last of Us series was in development in March 2020, and the show received a formal series order in November. No news on when the project will go into production or make its way to the small screen.