The announcements come from two separate exclusive reports — The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, respectively — which series creator Neil Druckmann quickly confirmed on social media.
Prior to The Hollywood Reporter’s scoop, unconfirmed reports tapped Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali as Joel. The Reporter said Ali was in talks for “a role,” but nothing came of it.
The Last of Us casting news comes shortly after HBO and Naughty Dog confirmed Kantemir Balagov as the pilot episode’s director.
A number of supporting roles remain unconfirmed for now, including Marlene, Tess, and Joel’s brother Tommy. As yet, there’s no set air date for The Last of Us’ pilot episode.
While it’s unclear how the HBO series will adapt Naughty Dog’s record-breaking games, there is some indication Druckmann and co-writer Craig Mazin plan to include Ellie’s full story and not just events from the first game. They delayed casting and filming in 2020 until The Last of Us 2 released to better align the narrative with what takes place in Seattle.
[Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline]
