Kaitlyn Dever and Maise Williams were top picks to play Ellie in “The Last of Us”

The series adaptation of the video game “The Last of Us” is coming to screens this year. But Ellie almost had a different face.

Actresses Kaitlyn Dever and Maise Williams were the top choices to play the character, revealed the show’s co-creator Neil Druckmann. However, due to delays in starting production, the role ended up going to Bella Ramsey.

Druckmann explained to the Hollywood Reporter that he needed someone “tough, vulnerable and wise beyond (her) age and also with potential for violence” to portray the 14-year-old character from the video games.

According to him, the casting team looked for “tens and tens” of actresses for the role. But the top picks were Dever and Williams.

Dever went so far as to participate in pre-production at a table reading of the series’ script. While Williams, for his part, met with the producer when the adaptation was envisioned as a film.

Production on “The Last of Us” took a while to start. Williams and Dever were too old for the role at 25 and 26, respectively. With that, the production had to choose a new name to take on the role – and it was 19-year-old Bella Ramsey.

Ramsey previously played Lyanna Mormont on “Game of Thrones” as her first credited role.

After watching Ramsey’s audition tape, Druckmann and fellow series co-creator Craig Mazin said they were sure she was their top choice. “Bella looked so real”commented Druckmann. “It was like Ellie in live-action. It didn’t feel like I was watching a performance.”

Based on the video game of the same name, “The Last of Us” follows Joel (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler tasked with escorting teenage Ellie (Ramsey) through a post-apocalyptic America. The story seems to have as background the unattainable goal of “Save Humanity”a “noble” feeling and “universal” value.

The first season of “The Last of Us” is divided into 9 episodes, which adapt the plot of the 2013 game. The production team has indicated that they have no plans to deviate from the original story of the video games.