Casting a live-action adaptation based on a book is tricky. Casting a live-action adaptation based on a video game might be even harder. Going in, fans already have a well-cemented picture in their minds. They’ve already seen other actors portraying their favorite characters, even if motion capture and computer graphics obscured their real appearances. Such a mental image can be near impossible for even the smartest casting director to shake, as evidenced by the immediate backlash to Pedro Pascal and—in particular—Bella Ramsey’s casting as Joel and Ellie in the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us.

But while the frustration was (mostly) born out of love for the original game, it was largely unfounded. As Joel and Ellie, Pascal and Ramsey are an ideal duo, bringing their own nuances to characters made iconic by actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson in the 2013 and 2020 PlayStation games The Last of Us: Part I and Part II. They ground the rest of the cast—some of whom acted in the original game, some of whom are nearly carbon copies of their game counterparts, others who take their roles in new directions, and still others who embody entirely new characters. The result is a faithful but inventive adaptation, one that’s moving into its second season starting April 13.

Ahead, we break down how each actor in the HBO series stacks up against their video game character.

Pedro Pascal as Joel Miller

For the lead character of Joel Miller, show co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann needed someone who could be both warm and rugged. His face needed to display the wear of decades of trauma, while still appearing a) handsome and b) opaque. And so they landed on The Mandalorian and Game of Thrones star Pedro Pascal, who trades his own personable wit for gritty pathos as the father figure and weary traveler. But as compared to Troy Baker’s Joel in the video game, Pascal’s Joel is more open with his emotions, revealing the extent of his fears to his brother, Tommy, as his mission with Ellie reaches its climax in season 1.

Bella Ramsey as Ellie Williams

Ellie, a teenager somehow immune to the cordyceps infection, is one of the most universally adored characters in all of gaming. Finding the right actress to play her would always have been a challenge. As a 14-year-old in the original game, she’s naive but determined, quippy but vulnerable; as a 19-year-old in the sequel, she’s so filled with rage that she’s dangerous to everyone around her. As Ellie in both seasons 1 and 2 of the HBO adaptation, Game of Thrones’s Bella Ramsey works to find where these disparate emotions intersect.

In a 2023 interview with ELLE, director Craig Mazin revealed he knew Ramsey was the right Ellie from the moment he watched her audition tape. “In my mind, I was like, if we don’t cast Bella as Ellie, then I will go to my grave knowing that we could have made a better show than we did,” he said.

Kaitlyn Dever as Abby

If Ellie is one of the most beloved characters in gaming, then Abby is one of the most polarizing. A surprise secondary protagonist in The Last of Us: Part II game, she is an adversary to both Joel and Ellie. A former Firefly driven by vengeance, she is a fierce, violent character—but one with more humanity than her tough exterior might suggest. Dopesick’s Kaitlyn Dever will take on the challenge of playing her in season 2 of the HBO adaptation.

Gabriel Luna as Tommy Miller

Tommy, Joel’s little brother, needed the energy of a revolutionary and the survival skills of his kin. We also needed to love him as much as Joel does. As such, Gabriel Luna is a perfect match. He pops up first in the premiere episode of The Last of Us season 1, but appears again in episode 6, when Joel discovers him helping to lead the Jackson commune. He becomes an even more important character in season 2.

Isabela Merced as Dina

In The Last of Us: Part II, Dina is Ellie’s most trusted companion—and her inevitable love interest. When they embark on a journey to Seattle together, they grow closer still. But the violence around them threatens to derail their fledgling romance. In the HBO adaptation, the Alien: Romulus actress Isabela Merced will play Dina.

Young Mazino as Jesse

Jesse, one of the survivors whom Ellie and Joel befriend in the enclave of Jackson, Wyoming, is an essential hero in The Last of Us: Part II. Charming and endlessly loyal to both Dina and Ellie, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get them home safely. Beef’s Young Mazino will play him in season 2—a perfect choice.

Rutina Wesley as Maria

By the time Joel meets Tommy in Jackson, his baby brother is a married man. His wife is Maria, a former attorney who’s now on the council of the Jackson commune. Although she welcomes Joel and Ellie into their home, she remains somewhat suspicious of Joel: She knows of the heinous acts the elder Miller convinced the younger to do during the early days of the outbreak.

Nico Parker as Sarah Miller

Joel’s daughter, Sarah Miller, gets only a few scenes worth of screen time in both the game and the show, but her role is integral: Her death is what ultimately sets Joel on his path to Ellie. Sarah’s humor and innocence is expertly captured in Nico Parker, who fleshes out some of the character’s personality in the HBO show’s premiere episode. Seeing her at school the day of the outbreak makes it all the more awful when we’re forced to say goodbye.

Merle Dandridge as Marlene

Merle Dandridge is one of only two actors from the original PlayStation franchise to reprise their same roles in the live-action series. As Marlene, leader of the rebel Fireflies, she delivers the message of hope that keeps both her people and Joel going: a young girl might save the world. Marlene’s time in the game is relatively short, but the HBO show nevertheless fleshes out the emotional climax of her character arc.

Anna Torv as Tess Servopoulos

Anna Torv is an obvious fit for the scrappy smuggler Tess. More than capable of handling herself alone, she still makes room in her life for Joel and, eventually, for Ellie. Unlike Joel, she comes quickly to the conclusion that Ellie is much more than just valuable cargo; the girl could make all their sacrifices, all their warped ethics, finally worth it. As such, her death in episode 2—and in the game—is meant to spur Joel forward on the path to save humanity. “Save who you can save,” she tells him. In the end, he chooses to save Ellie herself.

Nick Offerman as Bill

Gruff and spiteful with a natural distrust of anything on two legs, video game Bill puts Ellie in handcuffs within moments of meeting her. He eventually helps her and Joel secure a car to drive out west, but not before he stumbles upon the dead body of his former lover, Frank, and declares—eyes filled with tears—“Well, fuck him.” In Nick Offerman’s capable hands, Bill gets a near-total makeover. He’s still bearded, of course; still a roaring survivalist libertarian; and still quick with an insult. But he gets a love story that ends on a message of hope, not horror, making Bill ultimately a heroic figure rather than a tragic one.

Murray Bartlett as Frank

We’ll spare you the imagery of a corpse that serves as Frank’s introduction in the PlayStation version of The Last of Us. In the show, he gets a much warmer reception: As played by Murray Barlett, he’s a surprisingly affable dude considering the world he inhabits. In episode 3, he shows up in Bill’s life as a terrified wanderer, only for the two to fall in love, get married, and spend their entire lives together on Bill’s survivalist farm. It’s a gorgeous addition to the story, one that would have been much lesser without Barlett’s sweet smirk.

Lamar Johnson as Henry

In both The Last of Us TV show and the game, Henry serves as loving guardian to his younger brother, Sam. In the game, they’re trying to escape Pittsburgh to locate the Fireflies, but in the show, Henry is a wanted man due to his actions against one of the Kansas City resistance leaders. He befriends Joel and Ellie as they fight their way out of the area, only to meet a horrible fate in the process.

Keivonn Woodard as Sam

Keivonn Woodard’s Sam is the sweet, superhero-obsessed little brother of Henry, and the reason why Henry betrayed the Kansas City resistance to the government-backed FEDRA. (Sam was diagnosed with leukemia; to get his life-saving medication, Henry was forced to trade insider information.) As a Deaf actor, Woodard played Sam as Deaf, leading the other actors to learn how to communicate with him via ASL.

Storm Reid as Riley

Euphoria actress Storm Reid plays Riley, Ellie’s friend from The Last of Us: Left Behind downloadable content expansion. Riley makes her first (and her last) appearance in season 1, episode 7, “Left Behind,” during which she and Ellie explore an abandoned shopping mall...only to discover it’s not so abandoned. Their genuine friendship and fledgling romance sets Ellie on the path that leads directly to the Fireflies—and to Joel.

Scott Shepherd as David

Bridge of Spies actor Scott Shepherd is chilling as the cannibalistic church cult leader David, originally portrayed by Nolan North in the video game. He makes his only appearance in episode 8, but he instigates one of the series’ most significant emotional turning points: The violence he inflicts on Ellie will continue to haunt her well into the future, something we’ll likely witness as The Last of Us returns for season 2.

Troy Baker as James

Troy Baker, who served as the original voice and motion-capture actor for Joel in both The Last of Us Part I and II, received not just a cameo in the HBO adaptation but a supporting role as David’s right-hand man, James. The role is a small one in the game but was expanded significantly for episode 8, where Ellie herself gets the chance to swing an axe at Baker’s head.

As Baker told Vulture after the episode aired, “I never was promised a role. I was happy, on this one, to be in the stands rather than on the field. But out of the kindness of their hearts, both Neil and Craig were like, ‘Hey, we think we have a role for Troy that would be meaty,’ pardon the pun. Neil asked, ‘How do you feel about playing James?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, dude, thank you. Who’s James?’ That’s what I love about this story. We have the opportunity to explore characters who may have been looked over in the game—characters who perform their function well but don’t necessarily do anything to move the story forward.”