The Last of Us Season 2: How Bella Ramsey’s Ellie Has Evolved So Far

The Last of Us‘ debut season introduces Ellie, a foul-mouthed fourteen-year-old born into a post-apocalyptic world, never having known her mother. A captive of the rebel group known as the Fireflies, she is locked and chained to the wall of a solitary room in Boston. Though she struggles to break free, the attention and care she receives later from Marlene, the group’s leader, makes it clear that Ellie is central to the series’ narrative.

Ellie doesn’t know what the world was like before the Cordyceps outbreak ravaged the United States and the rest of the world. Her understanding of life and whatever it has to offer has been entirely shaped by the aftermath of the pandemic. For most of The Last of Us Season 1, her companion is her reluctant guardian, who evolves into a parental figure, Joel Miller, even though they get off to a rocky start. Through the perilous cross-country journey that the duo embarks on, Ellie has varied experiences and begins to transform.

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Ellie’s Beginnings In The Last of Us

Ellie’s journey takes off in The Last of Us Season 1, Episode 1 “When You’re Lost in the Darkness,” where she is held captive in a Fireflies safehouse in Boston QZ. She is a razor-tongued teenager, unafraid to curse anyone out — but that’s the price she pays for being born into a world where only a few practice things like decency and kindness.

Ellie, the only known human to have been infected and survived the Cordyceps brain infection, pleads with Marlene to be released. She has lost most of her childhood to the aftermath of the virus outbreak, but remains a child at heart. At one point in the story, she innocently asks Joel:

How did it even start? If you have to get bit to be infected, then who but the first person? Was it a monkey? I bet it was a monkey!

Sharp, confident, and with a funny bone to her — Ellie, like most teenagers, acts as though she understands the world better than anyone else. Yet, set aside that bravado, she shows moments of vulnerability throughout The Last of Us Season 1.

Ellie agrees to do her bit in Marlene and the Fireflies’ war against FEDRA’s military dictatorship to restore democracy and freedom in a post-apocalyptic America. The Fireflies are working toward a cure at a basecamp somewhere in the west, and Ellie’s immunity is the key to creating a vaccine. Marlene secretly lets her and her aide, Kim, know that within Ellie lies the potential cure to the Cordyceps infection:

Because you [Ellie] have a greater purpose than any of us could have ever imagined.

Marlene has to shuttle Ellie west, but since her squadron is decimated in a shootout with a local smuggler named Robert and his unit, she enlists two capable smugglers, Joel and Tess, as a last-ditch effort to hand Ellie over to her people waiting at the old State House — in exchange for whatever the duo needs: fueled-up trucks, supplies, guns, etc.

Ellie’s Life After Meeting Joel In The Last of Us

Ellie spent her life in a FEDRA military school, enrolled against her will — a decision made for her by Marlene. Her mother, Anna, had entrusted her to her childhood friend, Marlene, who placed Ellie there for safety while also keeping her under her radar. One night, Ellie snuck out with her best friend and love interest, Riley, and that’s when she was bitten by a Runner in an abandoned mall. Riley gets infected and succumbs to the virus. Ellie carries within her survivor’s guilt, watching the few relationships she forms fall prey to the virus.

Yet, Ellie is resilient. Throughout most of The Last of Us Season 1, she jokes with, teases, and chides her travel partners, Joel and Tess. She curses a lot, using humor and sarcasm to get by. She pretends to check into a flooded hotel, asking for their finest suite and porter services. She refuses to eat Joel and Tess’ scraps but proudly flashes and munches away at her chicken sandwich. At this point in their journey, she is forced to reveal to an angry Tess that the Fireflies’ doctors in the west plan to use her immunity to develop a vaccine, but Joel views this as a pipe dream.

When a frantic Tess decides to stay behind at the State House, it’s Ellie — not Joel — who first realizes she is infected. She refuses to leave Tess to die when a horde of infected overruns the abandoned building. Though deeply affected by Tess’s loss, Ellie is unfazed when she sees that both the healthy and the sick Fireflies died fighting each other. She is determined to continue their journey. Ten miles west of Boston, she sternly tells Joel not to blame her for anything. Ellie is unafraid to call out the truth, no matter how uncomfortable Joel gets:

Nobody made you or Tess take me. Nobody made you go along with this plan. You needed a truck battery or whatever, and you made a choice. So don’t blame me for something that isn’t my fault.

Ellie’s Arc: Shaped By Loss And Learning

Ellie has come a long way in The Last of Us. She’s had her fair share of dangerous encounters and picked up a few survival skills along the way. She learns about Outbreak Day through Joel, marvels at airplane debris, and gets to ride along with Joel in a car. Although she loves to quote her “No Pun Intended Volume Too” to Joel, her experiences also include picking up a gun and brutally killing David, the leader of cannibalistic survivors, with his cleaver. She grows noticeably quieter towards the end of Season 1, weighed down by the harrowing events — losing Tess, and Sam, brutalizing David, and whatnot.

Ellie forms a deep bond with Joel, who rescues her from the Fireflies at St. Mary’s Hospital. He refuses to sacrifice her for a cure and kills Marlene and the head surgeon, and everybody else who stands in his way. While driving Ellie away from the hospital, Joel gives her a different version of the events, claiming the Fireflies had stopped looking for a cure, and he had to get out because raiders attacked the hospital. As they make their way back to Jackson, a weary Ellie opens up about being forced to kill Riley after she turned. She then asks Joel to swear that everything he told her about the Fireflies was true — and he does.

At the beginning of Season 2, a 19-year-old Ellie has settled into life in Jackson. She’s grown fiercer, sparring with people twice her size, and has become distant from Joel. Like any teenager, she navigates complicated relationships around the settlement, but none are more strained than the one she shares with Joel. An overprotective Joel instructs Tommy to have Ellie watch the gate instead of patrol. Though Ellie snipes infected alongside Joel’s brother, Tommy, she tends to break patrol rules and resents Joel’s protectiveness.

Ellie is no longer just Joel’s tag-along—she’s truly come into her own. Over time, she has become a valuable member of the Jackson community.

The Last of Us Season 2 airs fresh episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and is available to stream on Max.

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