The Casting of The Last of Us Season Two: Should We Be Criticizing an Actor’s Physical Appearance in the Name of Authenticity?

Spoiler Warning: Includes spoilers for The Last of Us Part II video game

If you live under a rock, you may be unaware of the Max adaptation of the popular video game The Last of Us, which was released in the winter of 2023. The 2013 action-adventure video game follows the protagonists Ellie and Joel twenty years after the outbreak of a mutant Cordyceps fungus. This fungus is spread through bites and airborne spores, which results in the transformation of an infected human into a hostile monster. Before the game begins Ellie discovers that she is immune to this virus, leading her and Joel on a journey to find the doctor who can supposedly formulate a cure for this disease from her immunity. According to Wikipedia, the first season of the Max adaptation amassed just under 40 million viewers in only two months, but despite this immense success, there were still fans of the game who voiced their opposition to the show’s casting. 

For instance, countless fans took to social media to criticize the casting of actor Bella Ramsey for the character of Ellie. Screen Rant claims that this opposition stems from the belief that Ramsey doesn’t physically resemble the video game character, and that they don't have the necessary level of attractiveness for the role. The latter argument is honestly disgusting, as Ellie is a 14-year-old child, meaning that these fans are looking at a child in an intensely inappropriate way. Both arguments reflect how important fancasting is to the fanbase of this video game. Fancasting is when the fans of a media decide which actors would best represent that media’s characters in a film or television adaptation. In this context, fans of The Last of Us video game often fancasted Ellie as Kaitlyn Dever or Elliot Page, who both have a strong physical resemblance to the character. Consequently, when neither of these actors were chosen to play Ellie, and the actor chosen wasn’t perceived to resemble the character’s original appearance, backlash commenced.  

This disdain for Ramsey’s casting has maintained prevalence in the conversation regarding the show’s second season, which is an adaptation of the second game, The Last of Us Part II. One Reddit post extensively complains about Ramsey’s plethora of inadequacies, including the fact that they don’t have Ellie’s “innocent and cute” and “tall, lanky and agile” appearance. I know. Weird. But this perspective isn’t only limited to Ramsey, as there have been complaints about the casting of various other actors for this new season. Another Screen Rant article discusses the recent podcast interview between actress Isabela Merced and interviewer Josh Horowitz. Merced was cast as Dina for season two of The Last of Us, who is Ellie’s love interest in the second game. As discussed in the podcast, Merced has faced immense backlash for her casting, as Dina is of Jewish descent in the game and Merced is Peruvian-American, to which Merced responds “...the showrunner and the creator of the video game, they work together to make this. So, if you like what the guy made, and he's making more of it, why are you mad?” Similarly, there have been negative reactions to the casting of actress Kaitlyn Dever as the second game’s antagonist Abby, due to the stark differences between Dever and the character. In the second video game, Abby has a large stature with defined musculature, which Dever does not possess in the season two trailer, and she is significantly shorter than the character is in the game. In contrast, actresses with larger builds have been fancasted for this character, including Shannon Berry. 

As an avid fan of both the video game series and the television adaptation, I find myself agreeing with some of these arguments and disagreeing with others. In the case of Ellie’s casting, I personally believe Bella Ramsey performed so well that they completely disappeared into the role, to the point that I found myself forgetting that they were acting. However, I do agree with those who feel that Ramsey may be unfit for the role in season two, specifically in regard to Ellie’s significant transformation between the two games. Ellie looks like a young child in the first game, and completely transforms into an older teenager in the second game, while Ramsey has maintained a very young looking face since the filming of season one. Similarly, I was also a bit confused and upset at the casting of Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, due to the stark differences between their physical appearances. I totally agree with casting an actor who looks different from their video game counterpart–whether it comes to race, hair/eye color, etc.–but I personally feel that Abby’s defined musculature is central to her character. Her strong and intimidating build makes it that much more terrifying for the viewer to watch her viciously beat Joel to death in the second game. Without this build, I anticipate this scene to be less impactful and horrifying in the television series compared to the video game, which might shape the audience’s support or lack of support of Ellie’s decision to hunt Abby down afterwards. 

Even so, I do think that extensively commenting on and criticizing the physical appearance of an actor can be problematic. Yes, fans reserve the right to develop their own opinions about the casting of a show, but we must ask ourselves, why do we feel so comfortable ripping into the looks of strangers that we know nothing about? One Reddit user even likened Bella Ramsey to a hard boiled egg. Really? You’re letting a television show make you angry enough to revert to bullying? Look, I understand how upsetting it can be for your fancasted actor to not be casted for a specific role, but it should never bring you to the point of harassment. Maybe we should be criticizing the casting director, or maybe we should just accept defeat and move on. Either way, actors are humans too, and deserve the same amount of respect as anyone else.