Actor Elliot Page and The Last of Us have been part of a controversy that’s extended from the video game’s release to the TV adaptation’s premiere. Elliot Page is an actor who has appeared in popular streaming shows, indie darlings, and superhero franchises over the course of his career. First coming to attention in films like Hard Candy and X-Men: The Last Stand, Page went on to star in Juno a year later, a role which earned him both an Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination. He then went on to play Viktor Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy, a production during which Page came out as transgender.
The Last of Us is a 2013 action-adventure video game from Naughty Dog. Players control Joel, a smuggler trying to protect a young girl named Ellie after a deadly virus has transformed much of the U.S. population into zombie-like Infected cannibal creatures. The game won Best of Show at the Game Critics Awards along with many other nominations and wins, has an acclaimed sequel titled The Last of Us Part II, and resulted in an HBO television adaptation starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. While The Last of Us property as a whole is beloved, Page became the center of a controversy surrounding both the game and the show.
Elliot Page Said The Last Of Us Game “Ripped Off My Likeness”
In a Reddit AMA in 2013, before Page’s transition, a user made mention of the similar appearance between Page and Ellie in The Last of Us video game. Page responded by saying he might have been flattered for the game having “Ripped off my likeness…” in another circumstance but he just so happened to be doing a motion-capture performance for another video game that year, Beyond Two Souls, and so the similarities were not appreciated. In the video game, Ellie does look strikingly like Page and her smart-aleck, independent personality has shades of Juno.
Considering Page’s likeness was digitally created for Beyond Two Souls the same year as The Last of Us‘ release, it’s not out of the question that his character model inspired a Naughty Dog artist. But it must have been frustrating for Page to work on a separate game only to have his efforts overshadowed by a character design utilizing his likeness without any acknowledgment.
Fancasting Elliot Page In The Last Of Us TV Show Is Problematic
Fancastings for Ellie in HBO’s The Last of Us were a popular internet debate in the lead-up to the show. Due to his similar appearance to Ellie, many fans vocalized their desire to see Page cast as the character. However, this outry is problematic, because as Page already disclosed in 2020, he is not a woman, he is a man. Having Page play a young girl would be denying Page’s gender identity; it would be insisting he plays a gender that he is not simply because fans want it that way. Furthermore, Page is 36 and is far too old to play the 14-year-old Ellie.
Fortunately, Bella Ramsey was cast in The Last of Us TV show and is able to perfectly recreate the character for the screen. Ramsey may not look exactly like the Ellie from the game but their stellar performance more than makes up for any slight visual differences. Ramsey is fierce and witty as Ellie but most importantly, they are able to show Ellie’s spirit hardening as the series goes on. Ellie goes from naive and excited to jaded and worldweary in The Last of Us, and her arc wouldn’t have been as believable without Ramsey’s acting.
