How ‘The Last of Us’ Cast Compares to Their Video Game Counterparts: Pedro Pascal and More

Credit: Liane Hentscher/HBO

How 'The Last of Us' Cast Compares to Their Video Game Counterparts: Pedro Pascal and More

A very different kind of apocalypse. The Last of Us follows a group of survivors after a pandemic wipes out most of humanity, but it's not a virus that causes the catastrophe — it's a fungus. The culprit is cordyceps, a real fungus that in the show has evolved to infect humans, who become zombie-like after exposure. While minor characters come and go, the series focuses mainly on Joel (Pedro Pascal), a middle-aged survivor who is charged with protecting Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a teen girl who is seemingly immune to cordyceps. The sci-fi drama is based on the 2013 video game of the same name, which was written by Neil Druckmann. The Naughty Dog co-president is also a creator and executive producer of the HBO series, so he's well-placed to ensure the show maintains the spirit of the game while also deviating where necessary. One of the biggest differentiations came in episode 3, "Long, Long Time," which pulled back from Joel and Ellie's story to focus on Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). Bill appears in the game, but by the time Joel and Ellie encounter him, his partner, Frank, is already dead. The show, however, devoted a full episode to Bill and Frank's love story, from their first meeting to their heart-wrenching deaths. "When we got to this part in the season, [co-showrunner] Craig [Mazin] brought up a really interesting point which is ... there's a lot of examples of things not turning out well for people, and often those are reflections and cautionary tales for Joel of, 'Here's what you stand to lose,'" Druckmann told IGN in January 2023. "It was, 'What if we show them what you could stand to win?'" While Mazin and Druckmann used the game as a jumping-off point for the show, they advised their actors not to do the same — though not all of them obeyed. "I hadn’t heard of the game. Their instruction was: Don’t play the game," Pascal explained to Wired in January 2023. "I ignored them. I tried to play the game, and I was very, very bad at it. ... It was important to me to play notes that were directly related to what was originally in the game — physically, visually, vocally." Ramsey, meanwhile, waited to play the game until after the show premiered in early 2023. “I’ve not got to the bit where Ellie comes in,” the Game of Thrones alum said during a February 2023 episode of the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast. “It’s actually not as weird as I thought it would be. I just need to get on with it. I get in a room, I look at all the details and I’m just wandering around. Then I end up getting lost. I just need to go forward and get to the point.” Keep scrolling to see how the Last of Us cast compares to their video game counterparts:

Credit: Sony; Courtesy of HBO

Joel (Pedro Pascal)

The Mandalorian actor plays Joel, a Texan charged with getting Ellie out of a Boston quarantine zone.

Credit: Sony; Liane Hentscher/HBO

Ellie (Bella Ramsey)

The His Dark Materials alum stars as Ellie, a 14-year-old girl whose immunity to the cordyceps infection may prove useful to the other survivors.

Credit: Sony; Liane Hentscher/HBO

Tess (Anna Torv)

The Australia native appears as the smuggler Tess, who is in a romantic relationship with Joel.

Credit: Sony; Courtesy of HBO

Marlene (Merle Dandridge)

The Station 19 star plays Marlene, the leader of the resistance movement calling themselves the Fireflies. Dandridge played the same role in the video game. 

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Tommy (Gabriel Luna)

The Terminator: Dark Fate actor stars as Joel's brother, Tommy.

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Bill (Nick Offerman)

The Parks and Recreation alum plays Bill in "Long, Long Time," which follows the romance between survivalist Bill and a man named Frank who wanders into his compound.

Credit: Sony, Courtesy of HBO

Henry (Lamar Johnson)

The Your Honor alum appears as Henry, a Kansas City man tasked with protecting his brother, Sam, while hiding out from the revolutionary group led by Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey). 

Credit: Sony, Courtesy of HBO

Sam (Keivonn Woodard)

Woodard made his TV debut as Sam, the deaf younger brother of Henry. The actor is deaf in real life, and the cast and crew learned some American Sign Language before filming his episodes. 

Credit: Youtube, Courtesy of HBO

Maria (Rutina Wesley)

The True Blood veteran appears as Tommy's pregnant wife, Maria, who lives with him in a collective settlement in Jackson, Wyoming. 

Credit: Youtube

Riley (Storm Reid)

The Euphoria star appeared as Ellie's best friend, Riley, in the season 1 episode "Left Behind." After the installment aired, Reid clapped back at homophobic critics of the budding romance between Ellie and Riley. "If you don’t like it, don’t watch,” Reid told Entertainment Weekly in February 2023. “We are telling important stories. We’re telling stories of people’s experiences, and that’s what I live for. That’s what makes good storytelling, because we are telling stories of people who are taking up space in the world.”

Credit: Sony ; HBO Max

David (Scott Shepherd)

The Bridge of Spies actor appeared as David, the leader of a cannibalistic cult that kidnaps Ellie while Joel is injured. 

Credit: Sony ; HBO Max

James (Troy Baker)

Baker, who played Joel in the video game, appeared in the episode "When We Are in Need" as James, one of the residents living in David's cannibalistic settlement.