Is Ellie Gay in ‘The Last of Us?’ Ellie’s Sexuality, Explained – We Got This Covered

The Last of Us was a groundbreaking narrative-driven action game that won numerous awards back in 2013, and a decade later it’s looking to repeat history in its television debut. With Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in the two lead roles, there’s plenty of speculation and discussion on just how faithful The Last of Us series will be to the source material.

Ramsey portrays Ellie in the HBO Max series, and one of the biggest questions surrounding her character in the series will be her sexuality.

Is Ellie gay?

Ellie was a groundbreaking character for many reasons in The Last of Us. The writing behind her character, the immense survivor’s guilt she feels, and attachment issues made her more than the fairly typical video game protagonist. Portrayed by Ashley Johnson in the games, she quickly became an “it girl” for gaming in the early 2010s.

In The Last of Us duology and downloadable content, Ellie is openly gay with her sharing a kiss with Riley. When her character was confirmed to be queer, it was deemed a landmark moment for representation in gaming media, with gay characters typically not leads and rarely included in triple-A games.

With Neil Druckmann, who was behind the games, a major creative force for the HBO Max adaptation and the writing team’s dedication to the source material, it feels very likely the The Last of Us series will also portray Ellie as gay. Ramsey, who portrays Ellie in the HBO series, is non-binary and uses any and all pronouns.

The Last of Us is available to play on PlayStation, while the series is available exclusively from HBO Max.