Kaitlyn Dever would love to star in HBO’s The Last of Us series

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

An adaptation of the video game The Last of Us has been in development ever since the game was released in 2013. At one point, it was going to be a feature film produced by Sam Raimi, with the game's writer/creative director Neil Druckmann writing the screenplay and Maisie Williams in consideration to play lead character Ellie. That project fell apart, and earlier this year it was announced that Druckmann is teaming with Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin to develop an HBO series based on The Last of Us.

Set in a time when the world is overrun by people who have been infected by a fungus that turns them into violent mutants, The Last of Us follows 

Joel, a ruthless survivor with few moral lines left to cross, who lives in one of the last remaining Quarantine Zones. These walled-off, oppressive cities are run by what’s left of the military. Despite the strict martial law, Joel operates in the black market of the city, smuggling contraband for the right price. Joel is asked by a dying friend to look after Ellie, a fourteen-year-old girl with courage beyond her years. What starts out as a simple job to deliver Ellie to another Quarantine Zone, soon transforms into a profound journey that will forever change Joel and Ellie.
 
As they trek across a post-pandemic United States, Joel and Ellie will encounter different factions of survivors that have each found a unique way of dealing with the infected humans, the lack of supplies, and the threat of other survivors.

With a series in the works, fans online have been putting together their dream casts – and a lot of those fan-crafted cast lists have included BOOKSMART's Kaitlyn Dever in the role of Ellie. The folks over at Collider were able to ask Dever what she thought of the idea of playing Ellie, and found out that she's actually a "huge fan" of the game" 

I don’t know if a lot of people know that, but I’m saying it now; I am a huge fan of that video game. I think it is a beautiful story. It’s just a wonderful narrative, and I fell in love with that game when it came out. And I played it with my dad and we just had the best time. I’m not very good at it. My aim is really bad, but I’m working on getting better at playing. But I love The Last of Us. I think it’s an incredible story. I obviously have been seeing the Internet, and I’ve obviously been seeing a lot of that. Neil Druckmann, I worked with him on Uncharted 4. I think he’s one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met, and one of the sweetest. And I’m not shutting it down, you know? I’m not shutting it down. I would absolutely love to do that. But I don’t know where it’s at yet. But I love The Last Of Us."

Kaitlyn Dever and Maisie Williams are only a few months apart in age, and both nine years older than the age given for Ellie in the video game. So if Dever could be in the running, chances are Williams could still be on Druckmann's list as well. We'll have to wait and see how the development of the show goes, and whether a teenager or a twenty-something ends up in the role of Ellie.

A sequel game, The Last of Us Part II, is set to be released at the end of May. In that one Ellie is now 19 years old… and does kind of resemble Dever. 

Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker provide the voices of Ellie and Joel in the games.