HBO‘s “The Last of Us” television series is currently filming, with Pedro Pascal (“The Mandalorian”) starring in the series as Joel and Bella Ramsey (“Game of Thrones”) as Ellie.
Additionally, Deadline reports this afternoon that Storm Reid (Euphoria, A Wrinkle in Time) has been cast in the role of Riley, a character fans of the game should be familiar with.
Deadline explains, “Reid will guest star as Riley Abel. She is an orphaned girl growing up in post-apocalyptic Boston. In The Last of Us: Left Behind, a DLC to the original video game, Riley (originally voiced by Yaani King) accompanies and survives with best friend Ellie before she meets Joel.”
Kantemir Balagov (Beanpole) will be directing the pilot episode of HBO’s “The Last of Us” series, with Jasmila Žbanić (Quo vadis, Aida) and Ali Abbasi (Border) also directing episodes.
Gabriel Luna (Terminator: Dark Fate) is playing Tommy, the brother of Pascal’s Joel. Anna Torv, Jeffrey Pierce, Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett and Con O’Neil will also star in the series.
Merle Dandridge is back as “Marlene, the head of the Fireflies, a resistance movement struggling for freedom against an oppressive military regime.” She voiced the role in the games. Nico Parker will be playing Joel’s daughter Sarah, who we met in the original game.
“The series takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.”
Craig Mazin (“Chernobyl”) is developing the series for HBO, and he’ll be working with Neil Druckmann to write and executive produce the small screen adaptation.