The Last of Us was a groundbreaking narrative-driven action game that won numerous awards back in 2013, and a decade later it’s looking to repeat history in its television debut. With Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in the two lead roles, there’s plenty of speculation and discussion on just how faithful The Last of Us series will be to the source material.
Ramsey portrays Ellie in the HBO Max series, and one of the biggest questions surrounding her character in the series will be her sexuality.
Is Ellie gay?
Ellie was a groundbreaking character for many reasons in The Last of Us. The writing behind her character, the immense survivor’s guilt she feels, and attachment issues made her more than the fairly typical video game protagonist. Portrayed by Ashley Johnson in the games, she quickly became an “it girl” for gaming in the early 2010s.
In The Last of Us duology and downloadable content, Ellie is openly gay with her sharing a kiss with Riley. When her character was confirmed to be queer, it was deemed a landmark moment for representation in gaming media, with gay characters typically not leads and rarely included in triple-A games.
With Neil Druckmann, who was behind the games, a major creative force for the HBO Max adaptation, it’s unsurprising that The Last of Us took the plunge and did in fact make Ellie canonically gay. In the seventh episode, aptly titled “Left Behind,” the same scenes play out almost identically from the DLC to the small screen; Riley brings Ellie to an abandoned mall in Boston, where she reveals that she’s joined the Fireflies and will be getting relocated to another base camp. While inside the mall, Ellie and Riley ride the carousel and play Mortal Kombat II, eventually ending up at the Halloween store — which gamers will recognize as the area used for the infamous water gun fight. Once Ellie and Riley dance for a little while, Ellie slows the tempo of the moment to beg Riley to stay, sharing an intimate kiss with her.
In the previous episode, “Kin,” viewers are also convinced that Dina — Ellie’s girlfriend in The Last of Us: Part II — had been subtly inserted as a mysterious character watching Ellie from afar, so it looks to be confirmed (near enough) that Dina will be coming in the second season.
Interestingly, Ramsey, who portrays Ellie in the HBO series, is non-binary and uses any and all pronouns.
The Last of Us is available to play on PlayStation, while the series is available exclusively from HBO Max.