Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey to play Joel and Ellie in HBO’s The Last of Us

We’ve known for a while that HBO was adapting The Last of Us — the critically acclaimed post-apocalyptic video game from Naughty Dog — for TV. Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin is developing the project along with Neil Druckmann, who wrote and directed the original game, so you know they’re serious about this.

The Last of Us takes place in an America devastated by a zombie apocalypse. Yes, that sounds pretty cliche, but the game elevated itself with the personal story of Joel and Ellie, two survivors who form a close bond as they trek across the devastated landscape. The question for a while is who would play Joel and Ellie, and now, Deadline has provided the answer, confirmed by Druckmann himself: Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey and Bella Ramsey are our Joel and Ellie.

Pascal’s star has been rocketing lately. Not only did he play fan favorite character Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones, but he’s also the title character in The Mandalorian, and played villain Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984. Honestly, casting him as the lead in another huge show almost feels like overexposure, but he’s hugely talented so I won’t complain too much, and at least he’ll get to show his face this time.

Ramsey, meanwhile, has a number of roles under her belt but is best known for playing the feisty Lyanna Mormont on Game of Thrones.

The Last of Us will have two Game of Thrones veterans in the lead roles

Y’know, back when we speculating about who might play these roles, I half-jokingly suggested that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) would be a good fit. I didn’t expect HBO to actually choose two Game of Thrones veterans, but I’m not unhappy about it.

There’s no release date for The Last of Us as yet, but this is a big step forward. We also don’t know if the show will adapt just the first game or move onto its sequel, which released last year to tons of acclaim and also some anger. Whatever happens next, things are gonna get interesting.

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