As HBO gears up for season two of The Last Of Us, not only is it heading into a darker, more emotional territory, it also steps into a storm of controversy related to the actors and surrounding disagreement related to the show.
Coming off of the first episode of the new season as new characters and new actors enter the realm of The Last Of Us, there was a lot of backlash with Bella Ramsey, the actor who plays the main character, Ellie. Since Ellie is now nineteen, fans believe Ramsey doesn’t portray that same age resemblance even though she is twenty one.
Besides age, Ramsey also has a very different appearance to the character. For example facial structure and height. While Ellie is around 5’4 in the video game, with red hair, green eyes, freckles, and an oval face shape. Ramsey is 5’1 with dark brown hair, brown eyes, no freckles and a diamond face shape.
“She was a good fit for the first season, but since Ellie has gotten older in the second season, she just looks too different,” Ivy Roberts (10) said.
Since Ellie was around fifteen in the first season of the show, fans moved past the differences between Ramsay and her character because of her performance of fifteen-year-old Ellie.
One of the new characters in season two, Abby, who is played by Kaitlyn Dever, is introduced into the franchise as a strong and vengeful character. While Dever also holds a small resemblance to her character, fans believe that Ellie should have been played by Dever rather than Ramsey.
“Abby’s character is really muscular in the games and her actor isn’t, so I think it would’ve been better to have her play Ellie and find a different person to play Abby,” Kate Peterson (12) said.
Fans of the 2020 game know Abby as a brutal and tenacious character. She leads the game onto a darker path. While we see both perspectives of Ellie and Abby in the game, fans are skeptical about her portrayal of Abby and whether she can add depth to the character.
“I’m excited to see how they make everything happen, because there is a lot that goes on in the video game, and I don’t know how they are going to fit that into only a few episodes,” Peterson said.
Since The Last Of Us was originally an action-adventure, horror game. There are some events that are changed or skipped in the series because of money and time. Coming off of that, fans are skeptical about whether HBO will reach their expectations.
Fans also hold mixed opinions about the original main character of The Last Of Us Joel and his actor Pedro Pascal. Viewers speculate on whether Pascal is a good fit for that character. Some suggest that Hugh Jackman would have played Joel better, while others believe Pascal was a perfect fit.
“I like how he portrays the character in the show. He is in general a really good actor and he looks a lot like the original character,” Roberts said.
When it comes to comparing the game and the series, it really comes down to personal opinion. Much of the controversy stems from longtime fans of the video game. Still, HBO has done an impressive job casting strong actors and adapting the game’s key events as faithfully as possible.
