The Last of Us Movie Nearly Cast Fan-Favorite Actress for Ellie

Before it was a TV series, The Last of Us was very nearly a movie and almost cast a fan-favorite actress for the role of Ellie. After the meteoric success of The Last of Us on PS3, Hollywood began trying to figure out how it could adapt it and bring the beloved story to an even wider audience outside of games. It didn't take long for a movie with Sam Raimi at the helm to get greenlit, but unfortunately, it fell apart. Eventually, it turned into an HBO series that seems to be on track to do the series justice, even with the various changes it has made to bring it to life.

Although details of what the movie adaptation would've looked like are very scarce, Booksmart actress Kaitlyn Dever and Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams were both in the running for the role of Ellie during that time. Dever was a fan-favorite for Ellie before Bella Ramsey was officially cast in the role, largely because Dever looks very similar to her video game counterpart. It was revealed by series creator Neil Druckmann in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that Dever even sat down for a read through of the script while Williams simply met with Druckmann to talk about the role. However, by the time the decision was made to turn The Last of Us into an HBO show, anyone who was previously in consideration for the role of Ellie had aged out of the role and could no longer be in consideration. Given Ellie is a 14 year old girl, the actress in question needs to be in a certain age range and Kaitlyn Dever and Maisie Williams are now 26 and 25 years old respectively.

However, Dever apparently made enough of an impression on Neil Druckmann for her to play another little girl in his games. Dever briefly played the role of Cassie Drake, Nathan Drake's daughter, at the end of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Whether or not Cassie Drake will ever return remains to be seen, but it wouldn't be surprising if Dever reprises that role in a future installment.

Who would you have liked to see play Ellie or Joel in The Last of Us? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.