How Old Is Ellie In The Last Of Us?

The Last Of Us on HBO has taken the series to new heights of popularity, introducing millions of non-gamers to the franchise while also providing gamers with the best video game adaptation to date, scoring 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.

For decades, video game adaptations have largely been some of the worst TV shows and movies, but with The Last of Us, Castlevania, and The Witcher, things are finally turning around.

So far, the story of The Last of Us TV show has followed the first video game almost exactly, with only a few minor changes, most notably the fleshing out of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett).

With the TV show being faithful to the games, characters like Ellie (Bella Ramsey) have largely remained the same as their video game counterparts. This will pique fans’ interest in the upcoming season 2, which could take place after the events of The Last of Us 2.

Ellie, despite her young age, has already been through many traumatic events as a result of being born during the pandemic.

Ellie’s tragic story has helped many fans sympathize with her and become invested in the outcome of her story as the show’s future seasons and future The Last of Us games progress.

Here’s how old Ellie is in The Last of Us, as well as the significance of her age to the story and her relationship with Joel (Pedro Pascal).

What is Ellie’s Age When The Last of Us Series Begins?

Ellie was born in 2019 in The Last of Us, which means she is 14 by the time Joel meets her in 2033 during the game’s timeline. With The Last of Us TV show taking place in 2023 but seemingly following an almost identical structure with its storyline and the characters involved, it appears that the characters were born a decade earlier but retain their same age. This means that Ellie will be born in 2009 in the TV show but is still 14 years old during the show’s events.

Why is Ellie’s Age Important in The Last of Us Series?

When the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak began in September 2013, Joel’s daughter, Sarah, was just 12 years old during the game’s opening scenes. Shortly after the start of the game, she is killed as Joel escapes from the infected.

The Last of Us then flash forwards to 20 years in the future, with the bulk of the game taking place in 2033. During the events of the game, Joel meets a young girl called Ellie, who becomes the second protagonist in the story, later becoming a playable character in The Last of Us 2.

As the relationship and bond between Joel and Ellie grow, Joel can mourn his daughter’s death. Due to Sarah and Ellie’s ages being similar to each other, Joel is able to see his daughter in Ellie, and it helps him come to terms with his loss and continue moving forward as he tackles trying to survive the pandemic.

Joel‘s relationship with Ellie gives him a reason to continue. It makes the viewer sympathize with Joel more as it is easy to understand the type of father he was and the devastating effect of Sarah’s death.

The series introduced Sarah (Nico Parker) and her death has been driving force for Joel and even his brother, Tommy (Gabriel Luna). With the series playing out largely similar to the games, his relationship with Ellie is unfolding in the same manner, as such, her closeness to Sarah’s age has been an important point for The Last of Us.