Way before Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us was adapted into a TV series by HBO, Spider-Man director Sam Raimi nearly brought the series to the big screen with Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones fame playing Ellie. Why are we talking about this 12 years later? Well, that’s because fans are reacting to a resurrected Sony Pictures image on social media teasing the film!
Back at San Diego Comic-Con 2014, Raimi informed attendees that the Last of Us movie was set to be penned by Neil Druckmann, who of course was a major creative force behind the games and the HBO series, and Kaitlyn Dever actually read for the part of Ellie at one stage — she would later play Abby in the HBO series.
“I think it’s going to be a great character journey and a great love story and a really great horror picture,” Raimi said at the time. He also revealed that the creators had met with Williams about her role. Ultimately, the Last of Us movie fizzled out, and went into production hell. Still, any hardcore fans of the game will no doubt remember the buzz about a film based on the Naughty Dog series, which dates back more than a decade.
You may recall that Druckmann told the Hollywood Reporter back in 2023 that Williams and Dever were both considered for the part of Ellie, and Williams had previously expressed interest in playing the character back in 2015. “I have spoken to powerful people who are getting The Last of Us on its feet,” Williams said during a Reddit AMA. “And I’m hopeful that I can play Ellie in the future, but we’ll all have to wait and see.”
The Last of Us would eventually be adapted by HBO for a series with Bella Ramsey (another Game of Thrones alum) in the role of Ellie, with Pedro Pascal playing Joel. It’s run for two seasons and is gearing up for a third outing, although HBO has yet to announce when the third season will premiere.
[Source – Empire via GamesRadar, LordOfLeipa on X]