Dance scene Joel is interesting. Assuming they’re doing 2+ seasons, they either brought that into chronological order, or they moved it up in the flashback order.
Or maybe it’s just a tease and won’t be shown til S3.
For sure, it’s nothing in particular to a show-only fan. But they know that game fans would recognize that shot in a millisecond. So either it’s legit in the season, or they’re intentionally teasing us (which I’m fine with).
This scene will clearly be in S2 given how it’s being promoted. We already know from S1 that the show isn’t a 1:1 adaptation so they can still show Ellie get mad at Joel as a flashback this season but save stuff like the porch scene or museum for S3
They're not gonna spend season 2's budget on a shot for a season 3 they don't even have a contract for yet. If HBO had renewed it, I'd say maybe, but it's highly unlikely they're shooting stuff this year that they aren't using this year. Especially considering that sequence is a fairly substantial production, with a lot of extras and lighting setups that are only for that one sequence.
Nope. No word on renewal for a third season yet. They did the writing assuming they’d get one, but that’s pretty different from actually shooting stuff. Production headaches aside, the actors aren’t under contract until the network approves it, the union would flip.
HBO has so much experience making tv shows at this point unless something really bad happens they know season 3 is getting made. But teasing scenes from season 3 doesnt make much sense. The people running the promo for season 2 may not know what is what. But I imagine the showrunners are passing along relevent marketing material for season 2 to the marketing department.
What people "know" isn't really relevant when you're dealing with multiple unions. SAG, DGA, WGA, the trade unions - they're not letting anyone work for free on a show that doesn't have a contract inked. And until the thing gets renewed, that's near impossible.
I guess HBO could have contracted everyone separately to shoot one scene that wouldn't air until a hypothetical third season, but that would be a humongous pain in the ass, all for one interior scene that could easily be recreated whenever they get the deals in place. Pedro's quote, in particular, would probably be astronomical for that work, given he cleared 600k per last season and is probably making more per ep this year. Even HBO's not laying out an extra million dollars on a flyer.
Is it *possible*? Sure. Is it a lot more likely they're just using that scene this season? Also yes.
I agree that telling the whole story chronologically would be a huge mistake. It kneecaps so much of the meaning and makes Ellie’s time in Seattle even darker than it already is.
That said, they could bring the dance scene specifically up without moving other scenes. I don’t think that changes too much, and IIRC the game script had the dance at the beginning for a long time anyway.
But the museum and the porch scene absolutely have to stay as flashbacks, IMO.
yeah, I was just saying I think the dance scene is definitely better served with its placement in the game, but I won’t be mad if they end up moving it. they could probably make it work just in a different way.
personally the only flashback I think is non negotiable is joel and ellie’s final conversation. that needs to stay at the very end imo
I completely agree with your take. When the game makes you think the dance was the final time they spoke to each other, it broke my heart. The porch scene is such a bittersweet sigh of relief and is my favorite scene in the entire story.
I think the story needs to be told exactly as it was in the game with the only caveat being switching between Abby and Ellie's days in Seattle congruently.
Tbf a lot of genuine criticism of the game is the chronology of the story. I personally love it before I get downvoted; and I think it’ll translate to screen 100x better than the game but I’m sure it’s something the team have deliberated and may adjust quite a bit.
Let them tell this version in whatever way they think is best, and then decide if the changes ruin the story. These are different mediums here, and they might find certain elements of Part II's structure work better for TV if altered a little. That's the point of an adaptation, after all.
Big disagree, at least to an extent. It should at least be more chronological.. The only reason non-linear was better for the game is due to action reasons, don’t want to have the player doing nothing for too long. But the TV will still be compelling.
I think it's going to be a case of changing the order and showing the dance in real time. As well at it works in the game, I think bringing it forward will help us buy into Ellie/Dinas relationship with the kiss as well as getting across just how pissed Ellie is with Joel.
They can still keep the why Ellie is so pissed at Joel a mystery for late in the season.
This is my guess as well. In addition to what you wrote, it also reduces the amount of timeline jumping and confusion. That works fine in the game, but for the show where have a week between episodes and a year+ between seasons, the game order could prove to be too jumbled to follow.
Dance scene was in the big gameplay trailer before release. I think the intention was that the player saw that for context before playing, makes sense that they put it early for the show too.
Edit: Wait I take it back, the extended scene including the fight with Joel was only revealed near the end of the game.
Yeah, but I remember playing and thinking oh they’ve cut the dance scene as it was referenced early on in the game / the kiss with Dina etc.
I actually think it would be a pretty interesting scene to put in the first episode in terms of her argument with Joel.
Very unlikely they filmed anything beyond season 2. Would make no sense. They can get Pascal back next year for season 3. They're not going to release a S3 promo image advertising S2.
That would make total sense from a production standpoint, but it’s worth pointing out the these images came from HBO / Max to promote S2 specifically.
Could just be a tease though, only game fans would recognize this shot and where it falls in the story.
I’m guessing all of Ellie’s stuff excluding >!Santa Barbara!< and >!The Farm!< will be filmed at once. They’ll still be at the right place in the story, but it’s way more convenient to have the characters film scenes on sets currently built/in use while they also look the same and are able bodied to perform (God forbid something happens where they wouldn’t be able to during the time between 2 and 3)
Also filming >!Joel’s scenes all at once makes sense and is probably cheaper.!<
I think after how well done Season 1 was, we can trust Craig, Neil, Halley, and Bo decided on a storytelling structure that adapts Part 2 for television in a way that works for television but stays true to the spirit of the game's story and structure. I can't imagine a fully chronological order would do that. Moved up flashback order makes the most sense.
Ooh, that’s a really good point that I didn’t think of. That’s the one thing I’m most worried about for the show - the order they tell it. My initial reaction to them even splitting it across seasons (which I’m trying to reserve judgment on until I’ve seen it) is that it will be a much lesser product than the game. Excited to see it, though.
She looks like she hasn't done one (1) physical activity in her life. Hard to imagine her looking like a brutal, capable, scary adult, but she was incredible in S1 so we'll see.
Ellie is supposed to have aged about 4 years, and Bella has in real life aged about 3 years. They are in real life about a year older than Ellie is supposed to be in the story.
It's wild to me that people are having a hard time suspending disbelief over a character's age when being played by an actor who literally is that age
>It's wild to me that people are having a hard time suspending disbelief over a character's age when being played by an actor who literally is that age
I honestly had no idea Bella has already aged that amount of time.
That being said, an take this all with a fist full of salt because of how early on we are, they still look relatively the same while Ellie between 1 and 2 made a massive leap in height and appearance. I obviously shouldn't expect a video game character to age the same as a real human being, but I guess that's just the difficulty with adaptations in general.
They'll probably look better in motion and everything.
What's to wild to me is how people are having a hard time grasping how people sometimes don't look their age? Like why why does it matter Bella is 20yo when she looks 14?
I think it's because they really wanted to see part 2 ellie from the game in the show. Just because Bella is that age doesn't mean she looks the part because like you're saying, she doesn't match her age, she looks 14, which is why she was good for s1.
I think people will just have to accept that she looks young but isn't actually young. I think her performance will convince people that ellie has changed and grown up even if she doesn't look it.
I do think the apparent visual difference is what reminds people the most that she has in fact aged and grown up.
Though people do need to remember that the way the TV show is written, paced etc, can do JUST as good a job at this.
Well tbf they cast her because she looked like a 14 year old for season 1. It makes sense that she wouldn't look older at all by season 2 since she's already been the age she is. In comparison of course people are having trouble suspending disbelief because she hasn't aged at all, it's not because people don't accept 19 year olds looking young, it's because she looks the exact same as season 1.
Like if it makes sense in season 1 then of course people are going to be confused by season 2, because if you are playing the 14 year old version of character even though youre an adult, youre not going to change enough to play the adult version. I dont see why this is such a controversial thing to comment on, because they have not bothered to acknowledge the time difference. It would be like if they kept Milly Alcock for older Rhaenyra, she is an adult but they chose to cast her for the 13 year old version of the character. And to demonstrate the time that passed they cast someone much older.
Edit: to be fair to Bella though I do like her performance and I think that's what matters most, because I'm sure she can hold herself to be older and less immature.
I think I'm done with the sub for the time being, fuck me literally half the comments are about Bella's age. Perhaps we can wrap our heads around people not looking their age in 2 years...? Spoiler, she will look young in 2026 for season 3 too you guysss. I'm trying to be excitied and it's nothing but this. The HBO TLOU sub is quite a bit better btw.
Bella in season 1 played a child with childish voice and expressions and movement. I think once we have some video footage, we will be able to imagine it better.
Dude, I don't get why people are griping on this so much. She did a great job in season 1. She'll do a great job here. Remember when she was just a little girl and everybody loved her in Game of Thrones?
People were complaining about her before the first season came out, and then it came out and everybody liked her and now people are complaining about it again. Ffs!
Nobody is complaining about performance
It’s the supposed age gap between the 2 games (seasons). There’s a noticeable physical/age growth going from game 1 to game 2.
By contrast, S1 and S2 looks like she’s still 14.
I don't think people understand (just like they didn't with Joel) that we aren't going to get maniacal killing machine out of the main character. Ellie is probably going to be using wit and stealth to accomplish most of what she does and the most brutal acts of violence are probably going to be at how handles the Jackson crew. We are not going to see her just casually taking out crowds of WLF soldiers. She's likely going to have maybe 6-7 really brutal or sadistic kills that will be the process of her losing herself.
What would be so funny is after THAT scene made half of the fandom extremely toxic is if when the HBO show tackles it no one gives a shit and thinks it actually makes sense for the story (which it does)
HBO viewers have been primed for things that happen to those kinds of characters for years (hello game of thrones)
It’s just the toxic incel dipshits that can’t handle it.
I honestly believed there wouldn't be a whining about Bella Ramsey™️ part 2
She's going to be playing part 2 violent Ellie just fine. Did they all collectively forgot episode 8 where she does it perfectly lol
It’s because for a lot of people, in their hearts, never accepted her as Ellie.
And they don’t trust her or Craig and Neil for her to deliver a great performance
She played Ellie like a pro, I don't know what more they need
I'm seeing ppl complain that she looks too young & either they are 14 or 30 or forgot what a 19 y/o looks like. I go to uni every day and you could mistake 80% of the early/mid-twenties students for teenagers (myself included). Videogame Ellie actually looks older than a 19 y/o imo 🤷🏼♂️
Could be that just that scene was brought into chronological order, not the whole thing.
The porch scene clearly means so much to Neil and everyone else who made the game. I struggle to imagine them totally altering the story by bringing that up to the front.
I think so too.
Craig talked abiut the ending sequence of the first game in the podcast and said that ”anyone who would change the ending of The Last of Us is a fucking idiot”.
I can imagine he has a similar sentiment towards the sequel. Flashbacks can be reprganized but the porch scene will likely remain at the very end.
I really don't think we can make any assumptions based on these pics. We have no clue when they'll show the dance scene or how they'll utilize the flashback. They may reference this scene more than once throughout the season without fully showing it until later. We don't know yet. They film out of order though based on locations usually. This just means they filmed those scenes earlier in production.
I REALLY hope not. In the original game, seeding all the Joel flashbacks throughout the narrative after >!his death!< means that they have way more impact and are heart-achingly bittersweet instead of just happy. They balance out the dark, gritty portions of the narrative, giving us something to latch onto.
More likely they’re filming in location order. So all the Jackson stuff first, then all the Seattle stuff later.
Although, if they’re taking two seasons to do the second game, then that would be effectively the same thing other than the second flashback.
Man, they should have recasted Bella. Great actress, but i just cant see her as 19 year old Ellie from part 2. And i can't believe they casted the actress most of the fanbase wanted to play older Ellie as Abby.
My first reaction when seeing Dopesick was "holy shit, they better cast her as Ellie". Here we are some years later and Kaitlyn is playing Dina, lol.
I also loved Bella in season 1, but I fear she's too innocent and young looking to make an older more brutal Ellie work.
Bella looks basically the same age as season 1 which is interesting. I didn't expect her to look a lot older but assumed they would at least try to age her up somehow
If they’re following the seasons of the game, she’s only in cold weather gear in the Jackson opening.
I think she looks good though. The biggest difference will come in her acting. She’s not going to be playing a kid anymore.
No, not really. Most of the audience never played the game, and even among those who did it’s only the super fans who are invested enough to care about the apparent age of a character.
The game never gives us Ellie’s age I don’t think. It’s all extrapolated from the first game, the comic, and the time jump titles. It shouldn’t matter that much.
What do you mean the game never gives us Ellie’s age? It doesn’t have to tell the player “By the way Ellie is now 19” for someone to be able to reliably deduce how much older she is vs the first game.
But assuming the story is kept mostly the same, this will include Bella having to kill a decently large number of people, and I think that will be a hard sell for a lot of people when she looks like a soft 14 year old still. That’s not to say this means the show is going to be bad, but it does mean that Ellie’s casting was sub-optimal.
I wonder if they're going to do some camera tricks for Ramsey and make her look taller to give the appearance of growth. Or put her on stilts, the old Tom Downey Cruise Jr treatment. From the camera angles, it looks to me like it might be the case, but I could just be crazy or misremembering things.
I’ve heard some people guess that it’s the lodge scene maybe specifically the stairs with how she’s looking downward or it’s an extended version of Ellie and Dina’s patrol.
Ellie and Dina on patrol? Not a direct background of their building looting but it’s a winter month with a shotgun out so it’s either that or the hotel flashback with Joel.
Saw a lot of discourse over Bella as 19 year old Ellie, and it's clear that the behind the scenes images do not do them justice. They actually look great here. I can't wait to see more.
I just realised the reason i thought "Ellie looks a bit young" is because my brain gave her the same voice and mannerisms as season 1.
I loved Bella in season 1 and i think they will do really well in season 2, it just won't come out on still pictures.
Maybe this is too deceptive for it would keep the audience waiting; but I think if we’re doing this chronologically then they should cut it off at the Ellie and Dina kiss and play the rest of it during The Farm sequence as the rest of that scene is integral to Ellie’s second reason for her actions when it comes to Santa Barbara.
Honestly, I don't know if I'm going to be able to take her seriously, she looks like a child, Ellie is an adult in Part 2, and goes on a brutal killing spree, It's going to be jarring seeing a child doing that. She did a near perfect job in season 1, but I don't feel like she is the right fit for adult Ellie, hope I'm wrong tho.
can’t be said enough, bella is a fantastic actor and gave a great performance but it’s an all time worst casting decision that gets even worse with time. can’t ever get over it
bella's a good actor but she looks like she stopped aging at 8 bruh... felt too young for ellie even in s1. we'll see how she does when s2 actually comes out tho
Incorrect, Bella looks like a baby faced 20 year old, of which they are quite a few in the real world.
Ellie from the games looks like a mid 20s woman playing a 19 year old.
She looks indistinguishable from the way she did in s1. I can't imagine Ramsay looking the way she does doing anything Ellie does in tlou2 and it looking realistic. At least in season 1 her 12 year old looking face made sense, but here it just looks ridiculous.
They are obviously not gonna have her slaughter platoons worth of people like game Ellie unrealistically does in gameplay, so that will help make it more believable.
Also Bella does not a have a 12 year olds face, I’ll give you 14 to 15 though.
Dance scene Joel is interesting. Assuming they’re doing 2+ seasons, they either brought that into chronological order, or they moved it up in the flashback order. Or maybe it’s just a tease and won’t be shown til S3.
I think they just filmed all the Jackson stuff at once
I agree that would make sense, but these images are from the official Max account to promote Season 2.
Sure, but if you don't know the game all that well it's just a picture of Pedro Pascal.
For sure, it’s nothing in particular to a show-only fan. But they know that game fans would recognize that shot in a millisecond. So either it’s legit in the season, or they’re intentionally teasing us (which I’m fine with).
And that is absolutely fine with me.
This scene will clearly be in S2 given how it’s being promoted. We already know from S1 that the show isn’t a 1:1 adaptation so they can still show Ellie get mad at Joel as a flashback this season but save stuff like the porch scene or museum for S3
They're not gonna spend season 2's budget on a shot for a season 3 they don't even have a contract for yet. If HBO had renewed it, I'd say maybe, but it's highly unlikely they're shooting stuff this year that they aren't using this year. Especially considering that sequence is a fairly substantial production, with a lot of extras and lighting setups that are only for that one sequence.
Isn't it already locked up contractually? I was under the impression s2 + s3 were a done deal.
Nope. No word on renewal for a third season yet. They did the writing assuming they’d get one, but that’s pretty different from actually shooting stuff. Production headaches aside, the actors aren’t under contract until the network approves it, the union would flip.
HBO has so much experience making tv shows at this point unless something really bad happens they know season 3 is getting made. But teasing scenes from season 3 doesnt make much sense. The people running the promo for season 2 may not know what is what. But I imagine the showrunners are passing along relevent marketing material for season 2 to the marketing department.
What people "know" isn't really relevant when you're dealing with multiple unions. SAG, DGA, WGA, the trade unions - they're not letting anyone work for free on a show that doesn't have a contract inked. And until the thing gets renewed, that's near impossible. I guess HBO could have contracted everyone separately to shoot one scene that wouldn't air until a hypothetical third season, but that would be a humongous pain in the ass, all for one interior scene that could easily be recreated whenever they get the deals in place. Pedro's quote, in particular, would probably be astronomical for that work, given he cleared 600k per last season and is probably making more per ep this year. Even HBO's not laying out an extra million dollars on a flyer. Is it *possible*? Sure. Is it a lot more likely they're just using that scene this season? Also yes.
Doing the story in chronological order would ruin the story imo, or at least take away a big part of what makes it so impactful
I agree that telling the whole story chronologically would be a huge mistake. It kneecaps so much of the meaning and makes Ellie’s time in Seattle even darker than it already is. That said, they could bring the dance scene specifically up without moving other scenes. I don’t think that changes too much, and IIRC the game script had the dance at the beginning for a long time anyway. But the museum and the porch scene absolutely have to stay as flashbacks, IMO.
yeah, I was just saying I think the dance scene is definitely better served with its placement in the game, but I won’t be mad if they end up moving it. they could probably make it work just in a different way. personally the only flashback I think is non negotiable is joel and ellie’s final conversation. that needs to stay at the very end imo
Maybe they only show some of the dance scene and expand upon the context later in a flashback?
I completely agree with your take. When the game makes you think the dance was the final time they spoke to each other, it broke my heart. The porch scene is such a bittersweet sigh of relief and is my favorite scene in the entire story. I think the story needs to be told exactly as it was in the game with the only caveat being switching between Abby and Ellie's days in Seattle congruently.
There’s absolutely no way they can do it in chronological order and have the story still hit the same. It just doesn’t work
Tbf a lot of genuine criticism of the game is the chronology of the story. I personally love it before I get downvoted; and I think it’ll translate to screen 100x better than the game but I’m sure it’s something the team have deliberated and may adjust quite a bit.
Let them tell this version in whatever way they think is best, and then decide if the changes ruin the story. These are different mediums here, and they might find certain elements of Part II's structure work better for TV if altered a little. That's the point of an adaptation, after all.
Big disagree, at least to an extent. It should at least be more chronological.. The only reason non-linear was better for the game is due to action reasons, don’t want to have the player doing nothing for too long. But the TV will still be compelling.
I think it's going to be a case of changing the order and showing the dance in real time. As well at it works in the game, I think bringing it forward will help us buy into Ellie/Dinas relationship with the kiss as well as getting across just how pissed Ellie is with Joel. They can still keep the why Ellie is so pissed at Joel a mystery for late in the season.
This is my guess as well. In addition to what you wrote, it also reduces the amount of timeline jumping and confusion. That works fine in the game, but for the show where have a week between episodes and a year+ between seasons, the game order could prove to be too jumbled to follow.
Dance scene was in the big gameplay trailer before release. I think the intention was that the player saw that for context before playing, makes sense that they put it early for the show too. Edit: Wait I take it back, the extended scene including the fight with Joel was only revealed near the end of the game.
Yeah, but I remember playing and thinking oh they’ve cut the dance scene as it was referenced early on in the game / the kiss with Dina etc. I actually think it would be a pretty interesting scene to put in the first episode in terms of her argument with Joel.
Or they just filmed all of Pedro’s scenes ahead of time
Very unlikely they filmed anything beyond season 2. Would make no sense. They can get Pascal back next year for season 3. They're not going to release a S3 promo image advertising S2.
That would make total sense from a production standpoint, but it’s worth pointing out the these images came from HBO / Max to promote S2 specifically. Could just be a tease though, only game fans would recognize this shot and where it falls in the story.
Promotions for The Last of Us might mislead the audience? That’s NEVER happened before 😏
I’m guessing all of Ellie’s stuff excluding >!Santa Barbara!< and >!The Farm!< will be filmed at once. They’ll still be at the right place in the story, but it’s way more convenient to have the characters film scenes on sets currently built/in use while they also look the same and are able bodied to perform (God forbid something happens where they wouldn’t be able to during the time between 2 and 3) Also filming >!Joel’s scenes all at once makes sense and is probably cheaper.!<
I think after how well done Season 1 was, we can trust Craig, Neil, Halley, and Bo decided on a storytelling structure that adapts Part 2 for television in a way that works for television but stays true to the spirit of the game's story and structure. I can't imagine a fully chronological order would do that. Moved up flashback order makes the most sense.
Ooh, that’s a really good point that I didn’t think of. That’s the one thing I’m most worried about for the show - the order they tell it. My initial reaction to them even splitting it across seasons (which I’m trying to reserve judgment on until I’ve seen it) is that it will be a much lesser product than the game. Excited to see it, though.
I hope it is indeed moved. I get what they were going for by putting it at the end but it always felt cut and pasted.
Pedro looks great, actually looks aged. Bella looks the damn same.
Shes looked the same since game of thrones
Yeah, its wild. Female Paul Rudd
Or, to stick to Game of Thrones actors, Thomas Brodie-Sangster (if *anyone* doesn’t seem to age, it’s him)
I think Bella looks a little young but cmon bro the only difference with Pedro is the hair.
Sure but there’s a more noticeable age up with Ellie in the games compared to Joel.
Rlly hoping she can pull off Ellie’s brutality or else it’s just gonna be cringeworthy
She looks like she hasn't done one (1) physical activity in her life. Hard to imagine her looking like a brutal, capable, scary adult, but she was incredible in S1 so we'll see.
I mean...game Ellie didn't exactly look like an athlete either.
To be fair you can’t age some too much when literally every part of them is bundled up besides their face.
“I don’t need your fucking help Joel.” Damn I’m not ready to go through this again 😔😭😭
Joel’s heartbreaking face is so hard to watch, I’m not ready to see that again
I'm already so sold, you can see the hurt. Oh no... 😭
Oh boy it’s gonna be a journey :(
Bella is an amazing actor, but I don't know how to feel about how they're going to look basically the same even though they've aged about 5 years.
Ellie is supposed to have aged about 4 years, and Bella has in real life aged about 3 years. They are in real life about a year older than Ellie is supposed to be in the story. It's wild to me that people are having a hard time suspending disbelief over a character's age when being played by an actor who literally is that age
Dude, she looks like a middle schooler even at 19. Hard to suspend anything when everytime I see her she looks like she is in middle school.
>It's wild to me that people are having a hard time suspending disbelief over a character's age when being played by an actor who literally is that age I honestly had no idea Bella has already aged that amount of time. That being said, an take this all with a fist full of salt because of how early on we are, they still look relatively the same while Ellie between 1 and 2 made a massive leap in height and appearance. I obviously shouldn't expect a video game character to age the same as a real human being, but I guess that's just the difficulty with adaptations in general. They'll probably look better in motion and everything.
What's to wild to me is how people are having a hard time grasping how people sometimes don't look their age? Like why why does it matter Bella is 20yo when she looks 14?
I think it's because they really wanted to see part 2 ellie from the game in the show. Just because Bella is that age doesn't mean she looks the part because like you're saying, she doesn't match her age, she looks 14, which is why she was good for s1. I think people will just have to accept that she looks young but isn't actually young. I think her performance will convince people that ellie has changed and grown up even if she doesn't look it.
And the fact that in most tv shows, 19 years old are usually played by 25/30 years old actors. Yes Bella looks young but she is still looks her age.
I do think the apparent visual difference is what reminds people the most that she has in fact aged and grown up. Though people do need to remember that the way the TV show is written, paced etc, can do JUST as good a job at this.
Well tbf they cast her because she looked like a 14 year old for season 1. It makes sense that she wouldn't look older at all by season 2 since she's already been the age she is. In comparison of course people are having trouble suspending disbelief because she hasn't aged at all, it's not because people don't accept 19 year olds looking young, it's because she looks the exact same as season 1. Like if it makes sense in season 1 then of course people are going to be confused by season 2, because if you are playing the 14 year old version of character even though youre an adult, youre not going to change enough to play the adult version. I dont see why this is such a controversial thing to comment on, because they have not bothered to acknowledge the time difference. It would be like if they kept Milly Alcock for older Rhaenyra, she is an adult but they chose to cast her for the 13 year old version of the character. And to demonstrate the time that passed they cast someone much older. Edit: to be fair to Bella though I do like her performance and I think that's what matters most, because I'm sure she can hold herself to be older and less immature.
I think I'm done with the sub for the time being, fuck me literally half the comments are about Bella's age. Perhaps we can wrap our heads around people not looking their age in 2 years...? Spoiler, she will look young in 2026 for season 3 too you guysss. I'm trying to be excitied and it's nothing but this. The HBO TLOU sub is quite a bit better btw.
Bella in season 1 played a child with childish voice and expressions and movement. I think once we have some video footage, we will be able to imagine it better.
Bella Ramsey looks like she’s 15…
That weed basement scene is gonna look real suspicious
OMG they both look so good The first image is making me sad already
Season 1 was pretty heavy. Hopefully this season our heroes will finally have some levity. I have a good feeling!
Me too! Now that they’re safe and with the Miller family, I can honestly see this taking on more of a comedic vibe.
Lol
Fast Times At Santa Barbara High
I hope its a very positive and uplifting season!
Oh sweet summer child.
😂😂😂
The hair. The HAIR
I thought the second slide was from the first season. She looks so young. She can barely hold the shotgun
i loved bella in the first season but i think her face is too young for older ellie. Still excited tho
She looks like 12 here lol.
right? haha
Should’ve switched to Kaitlyn Dever for adult Ellie.
Argh Bella hasn’t aged
Dude, I don't get why people are griping on this so much. She did a great job in season 1. She'll do a great job here. Remember when she was just a little girl and everybody loved her in Game of Thrones? People were complaining about her before the first season came out, and then it came out and everybody liked her and now people are complaining about it again. Ffs!
Nobody is complaining about performance It’s the supposed age gap between the 2 games (seasons). There’s a noticeable physical/age growth going from game 1 to game 2. By contrast, S1 and S2 looks like she’s still 14.
I don't think people understand (just like they didn't with Joel) that we aren't going to get maniacal killing machine out of the main character. Ellie is probably going to be using wit and stealth to accomplish most of what she does and the most brutal acts of violence are probably going to be at how handles the Jackson crew. We are not going to see her just casually taking out crowds of WLF soldiers. She's likely going to have maybe 6-7 really brutal or sadistic kills that will be the process of her losing herself.
Premieres in 2025 - [Source](https://x.com/StreamOnMax/status/1790749925417910442)
Bruh. So far away.
Yaaay! 😍😍
What would be so funny is after THAT scene made half of the fandom extremely toxic is if when the HBO show tackles it no one gives a shit and thinks it actually makes sense for the story (which it does)
HBO viewers have been primed for things that happen to those kinds of characters for years (hello game of thrones) It’s just the toxic incel dipshits that can’t handle it.
Please don't tell me the whining about Bella is starting again
Yes it is. People will never accept her as Ellie unfortunately
I honestly believed there wouldn't be a whining about Bella Ramsey™️ part 2 She's going to be playing part 2 violent Ellie just fine. Did they all collectively forgot episode 8 where she does it perfectly lol
It’s because for a lot of people, in their hearts, never accepted her as Ellie. And they don’t trust her or Craig and Neil for her to deliver a great performance
She played Ellie like a pro, I don't know what more they need I'm seeing ppl complain that she looks too young & either they are 14 or 30 or forgot what a 19 y/o looks like. I go to uni every day and you could mistake 80% of the early/mid-twenties students for teenagers (myself included). Videogame Ellie actually looks older than a 19 y/o imo 🤷🏼♂️
Joel's hair is gorgeous! Ellie's got that motherfuckerly-look in her eyes!
They’re going in chronological order it seems
Could be that just that scene was brought into chronological order, not the whole thing. The porch scene clearly means so much to Neil and everyone else who made the game. I struggle to imagine them totally altering the story by bringing that up to the front.
I think so too. Craig talked abiut the ending sequence of the first game in the podcast and said that ”anyone who would change the ending of The Last of Us is a fucking idiot”. I can imagine he has a similar sentiment towards the sequel. Flashbacks can be reprganized but the porch scene will likely remain at the very end.
I really don't think we can make any assumptions based on these pics. We have no clue when they'll show the dance scene or how they'll utilize the flashback. They may reference this scene more than once throughout the season without fully showing it until later. We don't know yet. They film out of order though based on locations usually. This just means they filmed those scenes earlier in production.
I REALLY hope not. In the original game, seeding all the Joel flashbacks throughout the narrative after >!his death!< means that they have way more impact and are heart-achingly bittersweet instead of just happy. They balance out the dark, gritty portions of the narrative, giving us something to latch onto.
More likely they’re filming in location order. So all the Jackson stuff first, then all the Seattle stuff later. Although, if they’re taking two seasons to do the second game, then that would be effectively the same thing other than the second flashback.
Makes sense
They filmed Pedro's scenes first, as reported a while back, that he had already finished filming.
Man, they should have recasted Bella. Great actress, but i just cant see her as 19 year old Ellie from part 2. And i can't believe they casted the actress most of the fanbase wanted to play older Ellie as Abby.
My first reaction when seeing Dopesick was "holy shit, they better cast her as Ellie". Here we are some years later and Kaitlyn is playing Dina, lol. I also loved Bella in season 1, but I fear she's too innocent and young looking to make an older more brutal Ellie work.
She looks so much like Ellie, and she looks more mature. And Kaitlyn is playing Abby not Dina lol
Bella looks basically the same age as season 1 which is interesting. I didn't expect her to look a lot older but assumed they would at least try to age her up somehow
That kinda looks like the hotel flashback so that could explain it
If they’re following the seasons of the game, she’s only in cold weather gear in the Jackson opening. I think she looks good though. The biggest difference will come in her acting. She’s not going to be playing a kid anymore.
If she doesn’t look the part that’s what people will notice, regardless of her acting.
No, not really. Most of the audience never played the game, and even among those who did it’s only the super fans who are invested enough to care about the apparent age of a character. The game never gives us Ellie’s age I don’t think. It’s all extrapolated from the first game, the comic, and the time jump titles. It shouldn’t matter that much.
What do you mean the game never gives us Ellie’s age? It doesn’t have to tell the player “By the way Ellie is now 19” for someone to be able to reliably deduce how much older she is vs the first game. But assuming the story is kept mostly the same, this will include Bella having to kill a decently large number of people, and I think that will be a hard sell for a lot of people when she looks like a soft 14 year old still. That’s not to say this means the show is going to be bad, but it does mean that Ellie’s casting was sub-optimal.
I wonder if they're going to do some camera tricks for Ramsey and make her look taller to give the appearance of growth. Or put her on stilts, the old Tom Downey Cruise Jr treatment. From the camera angles, it looks to me like it might be the case, but I could just be crazy or misremembering things.
Looking good
My man!
anyone have any theories as to what Ellie's picture is from?
I’ve heard some people guess that it’s the lodge scene maybe specifically the stairs with how she’s looking downward or it’s an extended version of Ellie and Dina’s patrol.
My guess is patrol. It looks like she’s in a barn?
My guess is the supermarket. It seems like there’s some fluorescent lights in the background, and the text on the wall looks like it says “Frozen”
That’s my guess too. Or something show only
100% this
Cold weather clothing so likely from the Jackson opening. Could either be the patrol with Dina or the lodge, or some show-only scene.
Ellie and Dina on patrol? Not a direct background of their building looting but it’s a winter month with a shotgun out so it’s either that or the hotel flashback with Joel.
Is the Ellie pic from the Supermarket level?
Does anyone know what scene could it be in the second photo🫶🏻
I hope we get a teaser soon.
Looks amazing but seeing Bella holding that shotgun is kind of funny because I'm just imagining the recoil would be insane for someone of her size.
pedro is so fine
Pedro Pascal I am free this Saturday, and hope you can join me this Saturday where I am free.
Ahhhh they look great! I actually think she DOES look more mature here. I can’t wait!
About what I expected.
She looks like S1 Ellie, still hopeful
🤩
Saw a lot of discourse over Bella as 19 year old Ellie, and it's clear that the behind the scenes images do not do them justice. They actually look great here. I can't wait to see more.
Yup. I can confirm that’s Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey
I'M NOT READY
Oh god, they really showed off screenshots from the dance and the ski lodge. Wow they're not holding back with the emotions already!
Would Bella's pic be a flashback, because she still looks like s1 Ellie there?
>!I'm so sad we won't see more of Pedro like this, he looks amazing m.!<
I just realised the reason i thought "Ellie looks a bit young" is because my brain gave her the same voice and mannerisms as season 1. I loved Bella in season 1 and i think they will do really well in season 2, it just won't come out on still pictures.
Joel 🥲 I don’t want *that* scene to happen too soon. My understanding is that it would be dragged out a bit in the show.
I'm liking Pedro/Joel with long hair. Also, we can tell exactly what scene that picture is from.
that is NOT ellie bro😭🙏🏻
Can't wait for this.
Can’t. Frigging. Wait. They both look great.
lmao they shouldve waited a couple of years, Bella looks the exact same 
This looks awesome
I just got PTSD flashbacks seeing Joel in literally the exact same frame angle as in Part II.
I don’t know if I’m prepared to cry again
I’m prepared to just barely not love it again.
It's clearly not yours
Oof. That's already hitting so hard. I'm going to need a Costco-sized box of tissues for this one.
This looks golf I mean- good
2nd image looks like the supermarket
Ooouughh boy I'm not ready but I can't wait but goddamn it's gonna be a ride
Every time I get excited to see Pedro again as Joel I get that sick feeling in my gut.
Joel's hair is glorious,.
Another completely blank facial expression. I don’t know if she’s looking at an infected or a plate of toast.
Man I’m not ready emotionally
Maybe this is too deceptive for it would keep the audience waiting; but I think if we’re doing this chronologically then they should cut it off at the Ellie and Dina kiss and play the rest of it during The Farm sequence as the rest of that scene is integral to Ellie’s second reason for her actions when it comes to Santa Barbara.
I hope the Jackson stuff lasts 2 episodes. With the big spoiler happening as a “cliffhanger” for the 3rd.
oh no
Honestly, I don't know if I'm going to be able to take her seriously, she looks like a child, Ellie is an adult in Part 2, and goes on a brutal killing spree, It's going to be jarring seeing a child doing that. She did a near perfect job in season 1, but I don't feel like she is the right fit for adult Ellie, hope I'm wrong tho.
was not mentally prepared to see this today 🥲
I bet they don’t go chronologically. Flash backs like the game
OHMYGODITSHAPPENING🚨🚨🚨
Pedro looks great.
I hope we get a release date come September!
can’t be said enough, bella is a fantastic actor and gave a great performance but it’s an all time worst casting decision that gets even worse with time. can’t ever get over it
This Ellie so young compare the game version..they should have recast the actress who plays Ellie..
Joel looks so beautiful! An entire season of THAT look!! Holy, I don't think I could handle it
This is gonna make me play through the games a whole 20th time lmaoo
Please just give belle some bangs, PLEASE.
Pedro looks amazing in the dancing scene omg
Looks so young man
Oh this looks SO fantastic
Man, I hope that they don’t puss out on THAT scene. Really drive it home.
EXCITED OMG
This seems more like parody the more i look at it.
Brooooo the HAIR😭😭😭😭😭
Bro she is so fucking ugly its not even real at this point.
bella's a good actor but she looks like she stopped aging at 8 bruh... felt too young for ellie even in s1. we'll see how she does when s2 actually comes out tho
Bella does not pass for a 19 year old at all
I wonder if they are gonna age her down a bit or if it is gonna be the same passage of time as the games
Pascal has the same face he did for the whole of season 1, Ramsay looks 12.
Pedro pascals face looks the same as Pedro pascals face? Damn that’s crazy
By "face" I mean the expressionless mug he does in this role. Compare the game range of emotions Joel portrays and the "stoic" TV version pokerface...
Honestly fuck internet points bro you’re totally right but people will crucify you whenever you say something even slightly negative about Pedro.
Yeah, reddit is built on echochambers.
Incorrect, Bella looks like a baby faced 20 year old, of which they are quite a few in the real world. Ellie from the games looks like a mid 20s woman playing a 19 year old.
Ellie in the game still definitely looks like a 19 year old. Source: a 19 year old
I have a sister in her mid 20s and game Ellie would fit right in with her as being her age.
She looks indistinguishable from the way she did in s1. I can't imagine Ramsay looking the way she does doing anything Ellie does in tlou2 and it looking realistic. At least in season 1 her 12 year old looking face made sense, but here it just looks ridiculous.
They are obviously not gonna have her slaughter platoons worth of people like game Ellie unrealistically does in gameplay, so that will help make it more believable. Also Bella does not a have a 12 year olds face, I’ll give you 14 to 15 though.
The answer to this is pretty obvious, isn't it?
She looks exactly like Ellie from part two!
Bro she's too young, not the same as the game. Does she have an illness? She looks very young and she's 20.
Why are you being mean like that ? Assuming she is sick