The concept for Ellie began with an unused idea for
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009).
Neil Druckmann and
Bruce Straley, directors of
The Last of Us (2013), conceived a sequence with a
mute female character who would accompany
Uncharted protagonist
Nathan Drake; Druckmann felt this would create a "beautiful" relationship through gameplay alone.|alt=Four images depicting the development of Ellie's appearance. Ellie is smiling in the first image, and has short dark hair; she is facing right in the second image, with hair to her shoulders; she has a minor smirk in the third image, with hair on her fringe and down to her chin; and she has a blank look on her face in the fourth image, with no hair on her fringe. The team felt that establishing Ellie's appearance was critical. They determined that she needed to appear young enough to make her relationship with Joel—who is in his 40s The team also considered Ellie important for marketing; Druckmann said that, when asked to move the image of Ellie from the front of the game's packaging to the back, "everyone at Naughty Dog just flat-out refused". Following the announcement of
The Last of Us, comparisons were made between Ellie and actor
Elliot Page. Page claimed that Naughty Dog had "ripped off" his likeness and that it was "not appreciated", as he was acting in another game,
Beyond: Two Souls (2013). According to Straley, Naughty Dog had no knowledge of Page's involvement in
Beyond, which was announced several months after
The Last of Us.
Kotaku observed that some players would likely confuse the characters. Straley said that, following the comparisons, Naughty Dog revised Ellie's appearance because "we want our characters to stand on their own two feet". Druckmann and Straley said the change was made to better reflect Johnson's personality and make her younger. It was revealed in a trailer in May 2012. For
Part II, Ellie's look underwent years of iteration; the team wanted a logical transition from the first game while maintaining a "practical yet personal" outfit. Lead character artist Ashley Swidowski designed Ellie's eyes to demonstrate a somberness; in the first game, Ellie had wider eyes to reflect her childlike nature. Ellie's moth tattoo was designed by the California-based artist Natalie Hall after the team struggled to settle on a design. Hall drew the tattoo on a developer's arm so the team could visualize it. Druckmann felt that moths' obsession with light mirrored Ellie's obsession in the game, and served as a reminder of Joel.
Writing The Last of Us: Left Behind (2014) was written to specifically focus on the relationship between Ellie and Riley, and to recount the events that defined their later personalities. Druckmann was also inspired by wars that took place in
Syria and
Afghanistan; he felt that, like Ellie, conflict was familiar to the children in those countries.
Left Behind sees Riley's behavior change Ellie, resulting in the latter's focus to fight in order to save those close to her. The team was also interested in Ellie's behavior around Riley; she is perceived as being more playful. In
Left Behind, Ellie and Riley share a kiss; the team considered omitting the kiss from the game, but felt that it was imperative to the story and strengthened the relationship. Though initially he felt that Ellie viewed Riley only as an influence, Druckmann later considered her romantic appeal, and decided to explore the concept. For
Part II, Druckmann recalled the team's excitement to explore Ellie further as a protagonist, particularly developing the loss of her innocence, comparing it to the feeling of the writers of
Breaking Bad (2008–2013) when given the opportunity to explore
Walter White. The team discussed creating a sequel without Ellie and Joel, but felt that they were less interesting. Ellie's excitement for astronomy was based on Johnson's own interests, while her obsession with comics is based on Druckmann's childhood.
Part II co-writer and narrative lead
Halley Gross felt that Ellie's decision to track down
Abby was motivated by her desire to overcome her PTSD more than her desire to kill Abby. Gross, who has suffered from PTSD, considered it her responsibility to accurately depict the subject matter; she wanted players who might have suffered with trauma to understand that they are not alone. The writers wanted to deconstruct the perception of violence in Joel and Ellie: while Joel is indifferent and practical, Ellie kills to maintain a "
culture of honor" by attaching violence to her ego. Some of the team considered Ellie's obsession with Abby akin to a
drug addiction, and that Dina left as she felt that the obsession would never end. Gross considered the game's final shot, wherein Ellie leaves behind the guitar that Joel gave her, represented Ellie moving on from his death to a new chapter. Druckmann felt that it represented Ellie finally overcoming her ego, but preferred that the player create their own interpretation.
Gameplay For
The Last of Us, Ellie's
artificial intelligence (AI) required significant overhauling of the game engine. The team had her stay close to Joel, to avoid being viewed by players as a burden. AI programmer Max Dyckhoff said that, to ensure Ellie made realistic decisions during gameplay, he considered "what she was going through" and "what her relationship with Joel and the enemies would be". During the winter segment of
The Last of Us, players assume control of Ellie. The developers ensured that this change, as well as the knowledge of Ellie's immunity, was kept secret prior to the game's release to surprise players.
Television series filming
the second season of
The Last of Us in
Downtown Vancouver in August 2024
Bella Ramsey's casting as Ellie in
HBO's
television adaptation of the games was announced on February 10, 2021. Actors considered for the canceled film adaptation—like
Maisie Williams and
Kaitlyn Dever—had aged out of consideration, resulting in a reset of candidates. Around 105 actors were considered; the producers sought a performer who could portray a resourceful, quirky, and potentially violent character.
David Benioff and
D. B. Weiss—showrunners of
Game of Thrones, in which Ramsey had a recurring role—assured the producers of Ramsey's talent; they secured the role less than a month later, receiving the news during production on a different project. They were aware of the games but encouraged not to play it to avoid replicating Johnson's performance; they watched gameplay on
YouTube to "get a sense of it", wanting their performance to be reminiscent of the games without copying them. Ramsey, who is English, learned an American accent and had to cut off over 15 inches of hair for
the first season. They wore a
chest binder for 90% of production for better focus on set. Ramsey struggled to return to their normal life and accent after the first season, calling it "a grieving process" to let go of Ellie and suffering "withdrawal symptoms from set". Johnson plays Ellie's mother
Anna in
the first-season finale, which depicts Ellie's birth. Druckmann intended to adapt Anna's story as short film or
downloadable content but "it fell apart". He and series co-creator
Craig Mazin simultaneously thought of casting Johnson, considering her inclusion important due to her relationship with the games; Druckmann said Johnson "gave birth to Ellie" figuratively in the game and literally in the series. Ramsey approached
the second season the same as the first, feeling the writing effectively demonstrated Ellie's growth, such as her attempted emulation of Joel and his hardened behavior; they wanted to "feel [Ellie's] heaviness", leaning into both her similarities with Joel and her uniqueness. Ramsey added a "green rider" into their second-season contract, requiring all production departments to adopt
sustainable practices. While they lived with their mother during production of the first season, they chose to live alone during the second, reflective of Ellie's growing independence. Ramsey was more concerned about emotional scenes than physical ones, remaining "as light and energetic as possible"; they prepared for Joel's death scene by listening to the
Buckwheat Boyz's "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" on a loop to offset the darkness and exhaustion, as well as
Dan Reeder's "Fuzzyfalafelosophy". Ramsey felt Ellie allowed them to experience and "explore a really vast array of emotions, sometimes all of them at the same time". Ramsey found the second season "a lonelier experience" due to their separation from Pascal and faced difficulty during argumentative scenes due to their own close relationship with their father. They were saddened by Pascal's departure to their bond but felt prepared to step up as the primary lead actor and set the tone. Ramsey felt their own experience with "love" while filming the second season—in which Ellie has a love interest—was "really special". Mazin found Ellie's combat encounters more interesting due to Ramsey's size, exploring techniques used by shorter people against larger enemies. He regularly checked in with Ramsey during production due to the intensity of the stunt work. Ramsey trained in
boxing,
jiu-jitsu, and
weight training for two months before filming; they found the stunts enjoyable but exhausting. They were concerned their body type did not match Ellie's in the game, particularly in their lack of muscle definition, but Mazin wanted Ellie's strength to be conveyed more in her posture and confidence; he felt he had witnessed the growth in Ramsey's personality and emotional maturity between seasons, which is reflected in the series. == Character ==