"The Last of Us," HBO's new zombie drama, is based on the unforgettable game,
but how do the characters stack up between the show and the source material?
Fans of the video game are bound to have a closer relationship with Joel Miller than
any other character in the series. Not only is he the protagonist of the story,
but he is also the character controlled by the player for the majority of the game.
Pedro Pascal plays Joel in the television series while the character was voiced by
Troy Baker in the game. Pascal has proven himself more than capable of
helming a television series with starring roles in "The Mandalorian" and "Narcos."
The only notable cosmetic change in Joel is an ethnic shift away from the game's
Caucasian iteration of Joel to suit Pascal's Chilean heritage. This switch is unlikely to
have any effect on the narrative and falls in line with Neil Druckmann's commendable focus on
increasing diversity whenever possible, which was reflected in "The Last of Us: Part II."
When speaking with GQ, Druckmann said that he considers a diverse cast of characters to
be as important as any other storytelling or gameplay component. Based on everything we've
seen thus far, Pascal seems to have nailed Joel's gruff nature and rugged mannerisms,
and judging from his unkempt facial hair down to the broken watch that
serves as a reminder of his daughter Sarah's death, he looks the part.
"I'm not family?"
"Nope. You're cargo."
Alongside Joel, Ellie Williams is the other main character and the only other person that players
control for portions of the game, aside from Sarah for a brief time in the prologue. Ellie
is played by Bella Ramsey in the HBO show while she was voiced by Ashley Johnson in the games.
Ramsey is still early on in her career and is best known for her portrayal of Lyanna Mormont
on HBO's "Game of Thrones," which provided her with her very first role. She has had
a few notable roles since, such as a recurring character on "His Dark Materials," but "The Last
of Us" is set to become her biggest starring role to date. Although Ramsey is 19 years old,
which is five years older than Ellie is in the game, she has a youthful enough appearance to pass
for a 14-year-old and more or less matches the look and height of the video game character.
Ramsey looks the part right down to the eyebrow scar, but the one noteworthy visual change from
the game is Ramsey's brunette hair color, Ellie's hair in the game is auburn. The character is also
referred to in dialogue as a "redhead" in the game. Ellie's hair color had already been a
point of confusion amongst fans of the game, and the TV series will likely exacerbate that debate.
Tess is an important character early on in the story of "The Last of Us," though she
does not continue with Ellie and Joel on their cross-country adventure. She
has both a close personal and professional relationship with Joel, and she is the one
who convinces him to transport Ellie to Salt Lake City from Boston to get to the Fireflies.
In the TV series, Tess is played by Anna Torv, who is best known for her roles on
the shows "Mindhunter" and "Fringe." Torv is no stranger to video games,
having earlier provided the voice of the main character in "Heavenly Sword."
Visually, Torv seems to capture Tess' toughness, and her makeup matches Tess' injuries quite well.
In the show, Tess' hair seems considerably longer, and she's lacking the trademark black
and white bandana that holds her hair up in the game. The red shirt worn by Tess in the
game seems to be present, but it's covered by an outer layer. Overall, it doesn't seem like
the show's version of Tess will be a major departure from her depiction in the game.
In the game, Bill is a memorable side character voiced by W. Earl Brown who only appears in the
Lincoln chapter. Casting a household name like Nick Offerman in the role and including him in
four episodes instead of just one suggests that the series will expand on this portion
of the original story. The casting of Murray Bartlett as Frank in four episodes furthers
this implication. In the game, Frank is dead by the time players find him,
but his backstory subtly reveals him to be Bill's former romantic partner.
Offerman seems like the perfect casting for Bill. The video game version of Bill
is a bit more out of shape and generally unkempt than the TV version appears to be,
but Offerman is still a decent fit for Bill's physicality and a great match for
his personality and demeanor. Cosmetically, Offerman's beard is darker and a bit fuller
than video-game Bill's, and his hair is a bit tidier, but the style isn't far off.
Marlene is a key figure amongst the Fireflies, a paramilitary resistance
group with questionable morals. In the game, she is present in Boston and,
after being wounded, leaves Ellie in the care of Joel and Tess. She later reemerges near the
end of the story when the protagonists finally reach the Firefly base in Salt
Lake City. In both the video game and the HBO series, Marlene is played by Merle Dandridge.
While there are a handful of voice actors from the game contributing
live-action performances in the TV series, Dandridge is the only actor to play the same
character across both mediums. The casting couldn't possibly get any more authentic
than this. Her voice is guaranteed to be 100% accurate to the game and,
although the game's character design wasn't explicitly modeled after her, she also looks
the part. Her wardrobe and hair seem to be a perfect match for the character model as well.
Riley
The inclusion of Riley makes it clear that the HBO series isn't just adapting the base
version of "The Last of Us," it's tackling the "Left Behind" DLC as well. Riley is mentioned
through dialogue in the game but doesn't appear until the prequel DLC. Ellie and
Riley are close friends and begin to form a romance until disaster strikes.
"I haven't seen you… in I don't even know how long."
"45 days. Well…46 technically."
They are both bitten by the infected at the same time,
leading to Riley's death and the discovery that Ellie is immune to the Cordyceps infection.
In "Left Behind," Riley was voiced by Yaani King Mondschein, who is in her 40s in real
life. Since the character is meant to be 16 in the game, a younger actor was needed for
the live-action adaptation. Storm Reid, who's the same age as co-star Bella Ramsey, takes over as
Riley in the show. In terms of costuming, the TV version of Riley has added a head wrapping
to hold her hair back that wasn't present in the game. She also wears her hair in a long ponytail,
whereas the game character keeps her hair in a tight bun. Her wardrobe has longer sleeves than
the game equivalent but otherwise lines up well, even down to the beaded bracelet on her wrist.
Tommy Miller is Joel's brother and is a major character in both "The Last of
Us" and "The Last of Us: Part II." Just like Joel, Tommy is Caucasian in the video game,
but he's got another ethnicity in the TV show in the spirit of diversity and to line up with
leading man Pedro Pascal. In the show, Tommy is played by Gabriel Luna, who is of Mexican descent.
In the video game, the brothers don't reunite until far into Joel and Ellie's cross-country
journey. Tommy is slated to appear in all 10 episodes in the first season. It's clear that
Tommy will be a substantially larger character in the show than he was in the first game.
Visually, Tommy looks quite different between the mediums. Luna sports a different hair color and
style, he is clean-shaven as opposed to sporting a full beard as he does in the game. Also,
he is free from the scars and blemishes present on his digital counterpart,
though that might change as the series progresses. His wardrobe is a direct match for the Tommy of
the game with a fluffy collared jean jacket, and he can be seen using a sniper rifle,
which is revealed to be a specialty of Tommy's in "The Last of Us: Part II."
Sarah Miller is Joel's daughter who meets a heartbreaking end in the opening moments of the
game. As she apparently appears in two episodes of the series, it is safe to say that her role
has been expanded from the game, possibly in the form of flashbacks. Just like the actors playing
her father and uncle, the actor playing the TV version of Sarah is significantly less Caucasian
than the video game version of Sarah. The role of Sarah in the TV series is played by Nico Parker,
who is the daughter of actor Thandiwe Newton and is of Zimbabwean descent. No mention of
Sarah's mother is ever made in the games, but the TV series could change this. After all,
the show is already confirmed to include Ellie's mother Anna, who was also absent from the games.
At 18 years old, Parker looks a fair bit older than the video-game version of Sarah, who is
supposed to be 12. Sarah's t-shirt in the show is a different color and lacks the long-sleeve layer
but seems to be for the same fictional band as in the game: Halican Drops. Eagle-eyed fans noticed
that the back of Sarah's shirt foreshadows almost all of the locations visited in the
game. It remains to be seen whether or not the TV version keeps this subtle Easter egg intact.
Henry is a brief but vital character, and a lot could hinge on the right or wrong
casting. Lamar Johnson is portraying the live-action version of Henry,
while Brandon Scott lent his voice to the character in the video game. Scott bears a
somewhat closer resemblance to the character than Johnson, which likely comes from how Naughty Dog
captured full-body performances when making the game for motion capture and artistic reference.
"You might not be her father, but you're someone's."
Lamar Johnson has been a part of a few big film and TV projects like "The Hate U Give" and
"Your Honor," but he is likely best known for his abilities as a dancer as displayed on the TV show
"The Next Step." The similarities between dancing and fight choreography should give Johnson a leg
up when it comes to action sequences. Henry wears multiple layers and an overcoat in the TV series,
but he only ever wears a light tank top in the game. This change makes sense for the practicality
of it, and his underlayer looks to be a match for his tank top from the game, which is a nice touch.
Sam is Henry's kid brother and the subject of one of the game's most
heartbreaking moments. Fans of the game will know to prepare themselves for the
heavy emotions that are sure to follow when the TV show reaches Sam and Henry's subplot.
Sam is played in the show by Keivonn Woodard and was voiced by Nadji Jeter in the game.
At just 9 years old, Woodard is still at the start of his acting career with "The
Last of Us." The dynamic between Ellie and Sam has the potential to be a bit awkward
on-screen if it closely follows the game since the characters are only separated
by one year's age difference, but Ramsey is just about a full decade older than Woodard.
Woodard is deaf in real life, which is not a trait shared in the video game but will surely factor
into his TV scenes. Between this and his younger age, Sam might be quite different in the show,
but these differences might make him an even more compelling character.
Robert is a minor antagonist from the opening Boston section of the game.
He is a gun runner who double-crosses Joel and Tess and leads to the game's
first action sequences. Though his appearance is limited,
his role is vital as he inadvertently serves as the catalyst for Joel and Tess coming into
contact with the Fireflies, which leads to Marlene entrusting them to transport Ellie.
The Robert character was played by veteran voice actor Robin Atkin Downes in the video game,
while Brendan Fletcher has been brought in to play the live-action version. Not
much has been revealed about Fletcher's appearance as Robert in the TV series as
of yet, but Fletcher is more than capable of portraying the role.