Ellie is a character in the video game series The Last of Us by Naughty Dog. She is portrayed by Ashley Johnson through performance capture in the games, and by Bella Ramsey in the television adaptation. In the first game, The Last of Us (2013), Joel Miller is tasked with escorting a 14-year-old Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States in an attempt to create a cure for an infection to which Ellie is immune. While players briefly assume control of Ellie, the artificial intelligence primarily controls her actions. Ellie reappeared as the playable character in the downloadable content prequel The Last of Us: Left Behind, in which she spends time with her friend Riley. In The Last of Us Part II (2020), players control a 19-year-old Ellie as she seeks revenge on Abby.
Ellie was created by Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, the directors of The Last of Us. Inspired by a mute character proposed for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, they created her as a strong female character who has a close relationship with Joel. Throughout the first game's development, the relationship between Ellie and Joel was the focus. Johnson inspired aspects of Ellie's personality, prompting Druckmann to make her more active in fighting enemies. Following comparisons to the likeness of Canadian actor Elliot Page, Naughty Dog redesigned Ellie's appearance to better reflect Johnson's personality and make her younger. For Part II, Johnson considered her own experiences with anxiety and researched the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The character has been well received by critics, with Ellie's relationship with Joel most frequently the subject of praise. The strength and complexity of her character, and its subversion of the damsel in distress stereotype, have also been commended. A scene in which Ellie and Riley kiss in Left Behind drew social commentary and was commended as a leap for LGBT representation in video games. Johnson's performance in Part II was praised for her depiction of vulnerability and suffering. The character and performance received numerous awards and nominations, and have placed favorably in polls and lists. Ramsey's performance in the television series has been similarly praised.
Creation The concept for Ellie began with an unused idea for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009). Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, directors of The Last of Us (2013), conceived a sequence with a mute female character who would accompany Uncharted protagonist Nathan Drake; Druckmann felt this would create a "beautiful" relationship through gameplay alone. An early alternative name for the character was Lily; Druckmann chose Ellie as he had considered the name for his daughter. Druckmann, who wrote The Last of Us, designed Ellie as a counterpart to Joel, the main playable character. She was also intended to demonstrate that a character bond could be created entirely through gameplay. Druckmann described the game as a coming of age story for Ellie, in which she adopts the qualities of a survivor.
Casting Ashley Johnson was cast as Ellie in The Last of Us shortly after her auditions; the development team felt that she fit the role, particularly when acting alongside Troy Baker, who portrayed Joel. Johnson made important contributions to Ellie's character development. She convinced Druckmann to give Ellie a more independent personality, and to make her more successful in combat. As Ellie, Johnson's performances were mostly recorded using motion capture technology which produced approximately 85% of the game's animations. The remaining audio elements were recorded later in a studio. Johnson was sometimes uncomfortable while performing "disturbing" scenes. However, she was excited to play a rare example of a strong female video game character. For The Last of Us Part II (2020), Johnson considered her own experiences with anxiety, and researched the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with Druckmann.
Appearance
The team felt that establishing Ellie's appearance was critical. They determined that she needed to appear young enough to make her relationship with Joel—who is in his 40s—believable, but old enough to be credible as a resourceful teenager capable of surviving. The team also considered Ellie important for marketing; Druckmann said that, when asked to move the image of Ellie from the front of the game's packaging to the back, "everyone at Naughty Dog just flat-out refused".
Following the announcement of The Last of Us, comparisons were made between Ellie and actor Elliot Page. Page claimed that Naughty Dog had "ripped off" his likeness and that it was "not appreciated", as he was acting in another game, Beyond: Two Souls (2013). According to Straley, Naughty Dog had no knowledge of Page's involvement in Beyond, which was announced several months after The Last of Us. Kotaku observed that some players would likely confuse the characters. Straley said that, following the comparisons, Naughty Dog revised Ellie's appearance because "we want our characters to stand on their own two feet". Druckmann and Straley said the change was made to better reflect Johnson's personality and make her younger. It was revealed in a trailer in May 2012.
For Part II, Ellie's look underwent years of iteration; the team wanted a logical transition from the first game while maintaining a "practical yet personal" outfit. Lead character artist Ashley Swidowski designed Ellie's eyes to demonstrate a somberness; in the first game, Ellie had wider eyes to reflect her childlike nature. Ellie's moth tattoo was designed by the California-based artist Natalie Hall after the team struggled to settle on a design. Hall drew the tattoo on a developer's arm so the team could visualize it. Druckmann felt that moths' obsession with light mirrored Ellie's obsession in the game, and served as a reminder of Joel.
Writing The Last of Us: Left Behind (2014) was written to specifically focus on the relationship between Ellie and Riley, and to recount the events that defined their later personalities. Druckmann was also inspired by wars that took place in Syria and Afghanistan; he felt that, like Ellie, conflict was familiar to the children in those countries. Left Behind sees Riley's behavior change Ellie, resulting in the latter's focus to fight in order to save those close to her. The team was also interested in Ellie's behavior around Riley; she is perceived as being more playful. In Left Behind, Ellie and Riley share a kiss; the team considered omitting the kiss from the game, but felt that it was imperative to the story and strengthened the relationship. Though initially he felt that Ellie viewed Riley only as an influence, Druckmann later considered her romantic appeal, and decided to explore the concept.
For Part II, Druckmann recalled the team's excitement to explore Ellie further as a protagonist, particularly developing the loss of her innocence, comparing it to the feeling of the writers of Breaking Bad (2008–2013) when given the opportunity to explore Walter White. The team discussed creating a sequel without Ellie and Joel, but felt that they were less interesting. Ellie's excitement for astronomy was based on Johnson's own interests, while her obsession with comics is based on Druckmann's childhood. Part II co-writer and narrative lead Halley Gross felt that Ellie's decision to track down Abby was motivated by her desire to overcome her PTSD more than her desire to kill Abby. Gross, who has suffered from PTSD, considered it her responsibility to accurately depict the subject matter; she wanted players who might have suffered with trauma to understand that they are not alone.
The writers wanted to deconstruct the perception of violence in Joel and Ellie: while Joel is indifferent and practical, Ellie kills to maintain a "culture of honor" by attaching violence to her ego. Some of the team considered Ellie's obsession with Abby akin to a drug addiction, and that Dina left as she felt that the obsession would never end. Gross considered the game's final shot, wherein Ellie leaves behind the guitar that Joel gave her, represented Ellie moving on from his death to a new chapter. Druckmann felt that it represented Ellie finally overcoming her ego, but preferred that the player create their own interpretation.
Gameplay For The Last of Us, Ellie's artificial intelligence (AI) required significant overhauling of the game engine. The team had her stay close to Joel, to avoid being viewed by players as a burden. AI programmer Max Dyckhoff said that, to ensure Ellie made realistic decisions during gameplay, he considered "what she was going through" and "what her relationship with Joel and the enemies would be". During the winter segment of The Last of Us, players assume control of Ellie. The developers ensured that this change, as well as the knowledge of Ellie's immunity, was kept secret prior to the game's release to surprise players.
Television series
Bella Ramsey's casting as Ellie in HBO's television adaptation of the games was announced on February 10, 2021. Actors considered for the canceled film adaptation—like Maisie Williams and Kaitlyn Dever—had aged out of consideration, resulting in a reset of candidates. Around 105 actors were considered; the producers sought a performer who could portray a resourceful, quirky, and potentially violent character. David Benioff and D. B. Weiss—showrunners of Game of Thrones, in which Ramsey had a recurring role—assured the producers of Ramsey's talent; they secured the role less than a month later, receiving the news during production on a different project. They were aware of the games but encouraged not to play it to avoid replicating Johnson's performance; they watched gameplay on YouTube to "get a sense of it", wanting their performance to be reminiscent of the games without copying them.
Ramsey, who is English, learned an American accent and had to cut off over 15 inches of hair for the first season. They wore a chest binder for 90% of production for better focus on set. Ramsey struggled to return to their normal life and accent after the first season, calling it "a grieving process" to let go of Ellie and suffering "withdrawal symptoms from set". Johnson plays Ellie's mother Anna in the first-season finale, which depicts Ellie's birth. Druckmann intended to adapt Anna's story as short film or downloadable content but "it fell apart". He and series co-creator Craig Mazin simultaneously thought of casting Johnson, considering her inclusion important due to her relationship with the games; Druckmann said Johnson "gave birth to Ellie" figuratively in the game and literally in the series.
Ramsey approached the second season the same as the first, feeling the writing effectively demonstrated Ellie's growth, such as her attempted emulation of Joel and his hardened behavior; they wanted to "feel [Ellie's] heaviness", leaning into both her similarities with Joel and her uniqueness. Ramsey added a "green rider" into their second-season contract, requiring all production departments to adopt sustainable practices. While they lived with their mother during production of the first season, they chose to live alone during the second, reflective of Ellie's growing independence. Ramsey was more concerned about emotional scenes than physical ones, remaining "as light and energetic as possible"; they prepared for Joel's death scene by listening to the Buckwheat Boyz's "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" on a loop to offset the darkness and exhaustion, as well as Dan Reeder's "Fuzzyfalafelosophy". Ramsey felt Ellie allowed them to experience and "explore a really vast array of emotions, sometimes all of them at the same time".