The actress formerly known as Lyanna Mormont is back at HBO and ready to slay some more supernatural foes. Deadline reports that Game of Thrones breakout and His Dark Materials star Bella Ramsey has been cast as Ellie in the forthcoming HBO series The Last of Us. The series is based on Neil Druckmann’s 2013 video game of the same name which takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed, so, roughly, the year 2040. Druckman will team with Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin to write the television adaptation and Beanpole director Kantemir Balagov will direct the pilot. Ramsey will play Ellie, a 14 year-old orphan that has lived her entire life on an apocalyptic planet, who is smuggled out of an oppressive war zone by a hardened survivor named Joel. Apparently, Ellie might hold the key to saving the universe, which sounds like a lot for a 14-year-old girl to handle, but luckily Ramsey’s got plenty of experience with leadership, responsibility, and giant zombies as playing Lady Lyanna Mormont on Game of Thrones. If there’s one thing we know about Ramsey, though she be but little, she is fierce.
Update, Thursday, February 11, at 1:10 a.m.: The Joel to Ramsey’s Ellie has officially been announced. Per Deadline, The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal has been cast as Joel, the hardened survivor responsible for smuggling Ellie out of an oppressive war zone in an apocalyptic U.S., in HBO’s The Last of Us. Pascal’s casting turns The Last of Us into an unofficial Game of Thrones reunion as Pascal memorably played Oberyn Martell in season four of the fantasy series. Wow, it’s the Martell and Mormont spinoff we never knew we needed.