Bella Ramsey was cast as Ellie in HBO’s The Last of Us after a large audition search. No complete public list of the other actors considered for the role has been published. The names that are publicly tied to Ellie come from two separate projects: Kaitlyn Dever, who was in talks with the series’ co-creators before she was cast as Abby, and Maisie Williams and Dever, who were linked to Ellie in an earlier, abandoned movie adaptation.
Who was publicly linked to Ellie
The table below lists every actor whose connection to Ellie is named in the coverage available. Each row is limited to what the cited outlet reported.
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| Actor | Project | Reported connection to Ellie | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bella Ramsey | HBO television series | Selected for the role after an extensive audition process | Casting Networks interview with Victoria Thomas and Elizabeth Brown, August 18, 2023; Elle interview with Craig Mazin, 2023 |
| Kaitlyn Dever | HBO television series | In talks with co-creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin about playing Ellie; later cast as Abby in season two | Associated Press, April 10, 2025 |
| Kaitlyn Dever | Abandoned movie adaptation | Linked to Ellie; did a table read for the proposed film | GamesRadar+, 2023 (secondary reporting) |
| Maisie Williams | Abandoned movie adaptation | Linked to Ellie; met with Druckmann about the proposed film | GamesRadar+, 2023 (secondary reporting) |
The Associated Press reports that Dever was originally in talks with Druckmann and Mazin to play Ellie in the first season. It does not describe her as a finalist, and it does not say when or why those talks ended. Readers should not treat her name as proof that she was shortlisted for the role.
Keeping the film and the series apart
The movie adaptation and the HBO series were different projects with different searches. TheWrap’s January 6, 2023 interview with Druckmann and Mazin describes the scrapped film effort and the move to television. Williams and Dever’s names belong to the film period. The coverage available does not say that Williams auditioned for the series, so her name should not be listed among HBO candidates.
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How the search for Ellie unfolded
Scale and method
Mazin told Elle in 2023 that the team saw more than 100 auditions for Ellie. That figure describes how many people were seen. It does not identify finalists or explain how many rounds were held. Casting director Victoria Thomas told Casting Networks that the team worked remotely during the pandemic and received tapes from many young actors.
Why Ramsey stood out
Thomas said Ramsey combined two qualities that are hard to pair in one performance. In her words: “Bella can be both tough and vulnerable, but she doesn’t wear that vulnerability on her face.” Casting associate Elizabeth Brown pointed to a practical strength: “the fact that she is older but can play younger roles was a big standout quality for her when it came to playing Ellie.”
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Mazin described his own reaction to Ramsey’s audition in similar terms. He said he was “so freaked out that they weren’t going to see what I saw.” He also explained the stakes of the decision: “if we don’t cast Bella as Ellie, then I will go to my grave knowing that we could have made a better show than we did.”
Why the casting took longer
Mazin said that Ellie was harder to fill than other roles. “Ellie took longer because it’s a harder role to cast.” The longer search is the main reason the audition count was so high, but the coverage does not say how many other roles were cast in the same period.
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What the public record does not show
- A complete list of actors who auditioned or were considered for HBO’s Ellie. The sources reviewed name only Ramsey for the series role, plus Dever’s earlier talks.
- Whether Williams was ever considered for the HBO series. Her connection is documented only in the film period.
- Whether any unnamed auditionee was a finalist. The 100-plus audition figure does not establish that anyone outside Ramsey was a serious competitor.
- Why Dever’s talks about Ellie ended. The Associated Press reported the talks but did not give a reason.
For the most accurate answer, the verifiable record is narrow: Ramsey was chosen after a large search, and the only other series-era name tied to Ellie is Dever, who was in talks before moving to the role of Abby.
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