How The Last of Us season 1 sets up Ellie’s arc for season 2 is explained by the games' original Ellie actor. Bella Ramsey has won praise for her performance as Ellie in HBO’s adaptation of the iconic game The Last of Us, convincingly portraying the character’s emotional growth over the course of season 1. Despite the harrowing events of the Last of Us season 1 finale, the show seemingly left Ellie and her father figure Joel (Pedro Pascal) in a hopeful place, with the possibility of their finding peace amid the horror of the post-apocalypse (though with a note of ambiguity, as questions linger about Joel’s actions in the finale).
But those who’ve played the games may feel more dread than hope for The Last of Us season 2, even after the way season 1 of the show wrapped up. For her part, the games’ Ellie actor Johnson thinks the show made the right calls when it comes to laying the groundwork for Ellie’s further evolution in The Last of Us season 2. Appearing on the Kingcast podcast, Johnson discussed how Ellie’s future arc has been set up, praising the show for teasing the changes that are coming for the character. Check out what Johnson had to say in the space below:
“I feel like they set up Ellie really well for the [next season]. Because if you know the second game, there’s little moments where you can see that anger and violence is there in her. And I think they did a really beautiful job with setting that up as something that may happen in the future. And it’s heartbreaking to watch because the whole time you care about these people but you’re like, “Man, life is not going to get better for you. This is the best it’s going to get right in this moment.”
Could The Audience Turn Against Ellie In The Last of Us Season 2
Johnson naturally avoids spoilers in her remarks about the way Ellie’s character is set up for The Last of Us season 2, but does allude to the darkness that she knows is in the offing, having played the character in the games. The anger and violence in Ellie has indeed already been tasted by viewers of the HBO adaptation, particularly in The Last of Us episode 8, in which she was pushed to drastic ends to defend herself against the cannibalistic cult leader David.
Given the tease that Ellie will only continue manifesting more of the “anger and violence” in her as the show continues, it’s fair to ask if there’s a point where the audience might recoil from her actions, even if they are justified given the horrible circumstances of this world. It’s indeed already fair to question Joel as a moral actor considering the violence he unleashed in rescuing Ellie in the season 1 finale.
If Ellie only continues becoming more like Joel, it’s conceivable that there’s a line she could cross in The Last of Us season 2, where her anti-heroic attributes become true villainy. But as past TV anti-heroes like Tony Soprano and Walter White have demonstrated, characters can get away with a lot of questionable behavior before audiences begin to turn on them.
Source: Kingcast