Neil Druckmann, writer and director of the post-apocalyptic video game The Last of Us, and Sam Raimi, who is producing the film adaptation, came to Comic-Con to talk about the movie. And while it's not written in stone yet, they said Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams may be playing Ellie.
Druckmann said during the Last of Us panel that Naughty Dog's first reaction to the idea of a Last of Us movie was to say no, but they agreed when Screen Gems told them that they could have final say on the director and casting. "It's kind of on us not to make it suck," Druckmann siad. So Druckmann is scripting the movie himself, condensing the 15-hour game into a two-hour movie, which he says that this means laser-focusing on the relationship between Joel and Ellie.
And Ellie, Druckmann was excited to say, may be played by Williams. No contracts have been signed, but they just had a very promising meeting with the actress. What about Bruce Campbell? They might find room for him in the movie as well.
Druckmann said that, while the film will roughly follow the plot of the game, some changes have been made — though none as drastic as what Druckmann originally considered for the ending. He pitched an ending different from the game's to Raimi, but Raimi talked him into leaving the ending more or less the same as what we see in the game. Druckmann said that Raimi told him at the time that he went in thinking he's have to protect the movie from studio executives, but joked to Druckmann, "It looks like I'm going to have to protect it from you."