The Last of Us Part 2 was one of the most anticipated games of all time. Now that it has finally been released, the upcoming HBO adaptation is fast becoming one of the most anticipated shows of all time. Not much is yet confirmed about the show and no release date has been officially announced. However, game creator, Neil Druckman, will be co-creating the show with Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin, while director Johan Renck (also from Chernobyl) will be making, at least, the pilot.
Finally, the show will be adapting both parts one and two of The Last of Us series, meaning there will be a time jump in the storytelling. No casting has been announced, but given this is one of the most beloved games with the most beloved characters of all time, the internet has been ablaze with fan-casting. Here are five ideas each for who could play Joel and Ellie.
10 Joel - Hugh Jackman
Going on looks alone, Hugh Jackman seems the obvious first choice. He looks, especially in Logan, strikingly similar to the gruff and aging Joel. While the world of The Last of Us has been ravaged by the outbreak, Joel still cuts an impressive figure. He is at once a domineering presence, with an aggressive and brutal view of the world, which of course is just to hide his own inner torment.
Jackman, in particular, has shown time and time again he can flip between being supremely powerful and incredibly vulnerable, a balancing act that is key to portraying Joel correctly.
9 Ellie - Thomasin McKenzie
The young New Zealand actress most recently appeared as the wise-cracking Elsa in Jojo Rabbit. However, it is her role in Leave No Trace that best qualifies her for the role of Ellie. McKenzie plays a young girl who, along with her father, live remotely in the woods. Together they make a team of survivalists, living off what they can grow and find and relying entirely on themselves to protect each other.
McKenzie gives a blistering performance in the film and shows she's more than capable of handling the tough story beats that Ellie has to go through.
8 Joel - Josh Brolin
Similarly to Jackman, Josh Brolin is perfect for that silent but dangerous tough-guy persona. His roles in Sicario and No Country For Old Men are what make him a particularly good casting choice.
In the former, he is constantly under a veneer of secrecy, appearing forthcoming but clearly giving nothing away, including who is loyalty belongs to. While in the latter, he plays an emotionally distant man, able to communicate more from his actions than any dialogue.
7 Ellie - Daisy Edgar Jones
Daisy Edgar Jones would be more suitable for when Ellie gets older, but she would make for good alternative casting. Having dazzled the world recently in the Irish romantic drama Normal People, her career is surely on the verge of blasting off.
Casting her as the emotionally wrought but steely and determined older Ellie would make an interesting counterpoint to the cold and damaged Marianne.
6 Joel - Denzel Washington
When it comes to engaging but ambiguous performances, it is hard to beat Denzel Washington. In nearly every character he plays there are several deep layers of meaning and motivation which he carefully reveals through certain line deliveries and physical movements.
His role in Flight, where his character slowly fixes himself and ultimately gains a new perspective, is a particular touchstone for this role, while his dark charisma in Training Day may be the exact thing that's needed to get through the apocalypse.
5 Ellie - Kaitlyn Dever
This would be another piece of almost pitch-perfect casting. In both voice and appearance, Kaitlyn Dever is uncannily close to Ellie, and maybe the only actor on this list who could convincingly play Ellie had both stages in her life. Across her career, Dever has been no stranger to both dramatic and comedic roles.
She is astonishing in Unbelievable and Short Term 12, in which she has a huge amount of emotion constantly bubbling beneath the surface. While the more lighthearted Booksmart proves that she's just as comfortable in a double-act as she is taking center stage.
4 Joel - Brendan Fraser
Brendan Fraser was once the iconic action-comedy star of the 1990s. He's since taken a few years off and is just beginning to return to acting, entering that tricky transitionary stage of his career where he starts to appear older and more weathered.
Sinking his teeth into a role as iconic as Joel may be exactly what he needs to enter a new stage in his career. He may not appear to be the obvious choice, however, his recent role in Doom Patrol means he knows how to present himself as a broken man.
3 Ellie - Dafne Keen
While this may be partly inspired by the idea of a Logan reunion (with Jackman as Joel), Dafne Keen has already proved she has the acting talent to handle the role.
In Logan, she grows from an almost feral animal to an intelligent and sensitive young girl - not quite the same character arch as Ellie, but she has a charisma that works for the character and a ferocity that works for the action. And in the His Dark Materials series, she has proven once again that she can hold her own in scenes with world-class actors.
2 Joel - Oscar Isaac
Oscar Isaac is a prime example of a movie star: good looks, charm, and buckets of charisma. He also has an immensely diverse and deep range of acting talent. In many ways, Joel looks like the typical movie hero but he acts like anything but.
At the beginning of the story, he is embittered and appears to care mainly for himself, only for that facade to slip over the course of the game and the good man begins to emerge again. Isaac would be excellent at playing this arch and could inject an element of humanity that other actors of his ilk would struggle to find.
1 Ellie - Storm Reid
Whether it's as Ellie, or someone else, there's no doubt that Storm Reid, who has been impressive in everything, is destined for something big. She convincingly captured child-like wonder and joy in A Wrinkle in Time, and for much of the first game, Ellie is like a fish-out-of-water as she explores the wider world for the first time, which proves to be both scary and beautiful.
The very next year, Reid showed off her dramatic talent in Euphoria. Ellie is never one thing and then the other - she is funny, scared, tough, and vulnerable all at the same time and Reid is more than capable of handling that.
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