How HBO’s The Last of Us Has Elevated the Franchise
HBO’s The Last Of Us has taken the series to new heights of popularity as it has helped introduce millions of non-gamers to the franchise and has also given gamers the best video game adaptation to date, scoring 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. For decades, video game adaptations have largely been some of the worst TV shows and movies, and things are finally turning around with The Last of Us, Castlevania, and The Witcher. The story of The Last of Us TV show has so far followed the first video game almost identically, with just a few minor changes taking place, notably the fleshing out of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). With the TV show being faithful to the games, characters such as Ellie (Bella Ramsey) have remained largely the same as their video game counterparts. This will excite fans in anticipation of the future season 2, which could follow the events of The Last of Us 2.
Despite her young age, Ellie, has already been through many traumatic events due to being born during the pandemic. Ellie’s tragic tale has helped many fans sympathize with her and become invested in the outcome of her story over the coming seasons of the show and future The Last of Us games. Here is how old Ellie is in The Last of Us and the importance of her age to the story and her relationship with Joel (Pedro Pascal).
Ellie’s Age at the Start of The Last of Us Series
Ellie was born in 2019 in The Last of Us, which means she is 14 by the time Joel meets her in 2033 during the game’s timeline. With The Last of Us TV show taking place in 2023 but seemingly following an almost identical structure with its storyline and the characters involved, it appears that the characters were born a decade earlier but retain their same age. This means that Ellie will be born in 2009 in the TV show but is still 14 years old during the show’s events.
The Significance of Ellie’s Age in The Last of Us Series
When the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak began in September 2013, Joel’s daughter, Sarah, was just 12 years old during the game’s opening scenes. Shortly after the start of the game, she is killed as Joel escapes from the infected. The Last of Us then flash forwards to 20 years in the future, with the bulk of the game taking place in 2033. During the events of the game, Joel meets a young girl called Ellie, who becomes the second protagonist in the story, later becoming a playable character in The Last of Us 2.
As the relationship and bond between Joel and Ellie grow, Joel can mourn his daughter’s death. Due to Sarah and Ellie’s ages being similar to each other, Joel is able to see his daughter in Ellie, and it helps him come to terms with his loss and continue moving forward as he tackles trying to survive the pandemic. Joel’s relationship with Ellie gives him a reason to continue. It makes the viewer sympathize with Joel more as it is easy to understand the type of father he was and the devastating effect of Sarah’s death.
The series introduced Sarah (Nico Parker) and her death has been driving force for Joel and even his brother, Tommy (Gabriel Luna). With the series playing out largely similar to the games, his relationship with Ellie is unfolding in the same manner, as such, her closeness to Sarah’s age has been an important point for The Last of Us.
Read Next: The Last Of Us Almost Dethroned HBO’s Biggest Show In Just 1 Episode
Follow Us
