3 Reasons Bella Ramsey And Pedro Pascal Should Not Be Recast In ‘The Last Of Us’ Season 2, And 1 Reason They Should

The Last Of Us has wrapped up its first season on HBO, bringing the video game’s story to a wider audience in the process and doing a pretty damn good job of adapting the source material for TV.

It wasn’t perfect, mind you, with a strong start and finish bookending a sluggish middle, and overall I think the first season could have been longer and spent more time fleshing out the world and its characters, while deepening the bond between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). In fact, I think the first game could have been adapted into two seasons quite easily, with expanded storylines for characters like Tess (Anna Torv), Bill (Nick Offerman) and so forth.

Still, on the whole I very much enjoyed The Last Of Us. In some ways, I prefer the game and in others, I think the TV show made some neat changes and improvements. But now we have The Last Of Us Part II to think about, and what that means for Season 2 and 3 of the show.

One of the most-discussed aspects of this is whether or not Bella Ramsey should be recast as Ellie for the coming seasons. Many have concerns that the British actor isn’t up to play the demanding role that the coming seasons will require. Much of this debate is driven by a simple fact: Many fans of the game simply prefer game Ellie to show Ellie, and never liked Ramsey’s casting to begin with. Given some of the high profile recasting announcements lately—like Henry Cavill being replaced in The Witcher by Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia—it makes sense that rumors and speculation have dogged this show as well.

Here are three reasons why Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are perfect for these roles and why they should not be recast in Season 2—and one reason why they should. Spoilers for both the games and the show follow. Read on at your own risk.

Reason #1: Pascal and Ramsey have great chemistry.

One of the best things about the video game The Last Of Us was the casting. Troy Baker played Joel and Ashley Johnson played Ellie (both have small roles in the TV series) and they were both terrific, giving some of the best performances in any video game I’ve ever played. That goes for Part II as well. That chemistry was crucial for the adaptation to work, and Ramsey and Pascal nailed it, both during earlier episodes where they clearly disliked each other, and later on as their relationship grew and a deeper bond developed. When you have chemistry like that, you don’t break it by recasting one of the actors.

Reason #2: Bella Ramsey proved she could handle a darker Ellie.

I do think that the next two seasons will have some trouble adapting Ellie from the games as the stone-cold killer she was, but I also think they can easily tone down the body-count from the video game for the show, and still have Ellie take on the role of vengeful killer. Ramsey has shown that she can go dark, and in many ways her portrayal of Ellie in the HBO adaptation is already much, much darker than in the first game. This sets her up perfectly for Season 2 and 3, even if she won’t be quite the killing machine she was in the game. Until the final episode of Season 1, neither was this version of Joel.

Reason #3: Pedro Pascal adds new layers to Joel that make him a better character.

Troy Baker is a phenomenal actor and the talented animators and game designers at Naughty Dog helped bring his version of Joel to life in truly stunning ways. (Same goes for Ashley Johnson’s Ellie). But the show gives Joel new depth that in many ways he only achieved in the second game. Pascal’s performance lends itself well to this somewhat softer, somewhat more emotionally vulnerable version of the character and that will only make the next two seasons that much more poignant and gut-wrenching. I like that both these actors have different takes on these characters even though the story has remained so true to the game. It makes it more interesting (not that it’s better, just that it’s different and I like to be surprised).

One Reason To Recast Both Actors

There is one good reason to recast both these actors before Season 2, however, though I admit I’m being a little bit facetious here. The fact is—and we’re about to get into The Last Of Us Part II spoilers here—I simply like them both far too much to really accept what’s coming. I mean, just watch this brief video of Pascal talking about Bella, whose portmanteau nickname for her is “Bellie”:

“She’s my blessing,” Pascal says. “It was just a match made in heaven, and I love her.”

“We’re good buddies,” Ramsey adds in the video. On Twitter she quote-tweeted the video with this sweet message:

Bellie and Pedge? Oh come on.

This is, to put it bluntly, too adorable for Season 2 of The Last Of Us. I don’t know how fans are going to accept what’s coming with Joel and Abby and the golf club. Short of rewriting the story in such big and fundamental ways that it would no longer resemble the second game, there is only one solution: HBO must recast both actors now with much less likable people in these roles. It’s going to be too traumatic having to watch “Bellie” lose “Pedge” this way. Please.

Hell, I’ve already dealt with losing the Viper to the Mountain. I knew it was coming, too, since I’d already read A Song Of Ice And Fire before watching Game Of Thrones. And I’ve already dealt with losing Baker’s Joel, which was bad enough. I don’t know that I can deal with it again especially with two people who are clearly so enormously fond of one another. It’s too much. I won’t do it. I quit.

Read my review of the season finale of The Last Of Us right here, or watch my video review above.

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