New art shows what The Last of Us series would look like based on fan casting- with Hugh Jackman the stand out

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HBO’s hit TV show The Last of US is gripping millions of fans each week- but here’s how it would have looked if producers had taken fans thoughts on who should play the characters on board

New artwork has shown what TV series The Last of Us would look like if producers  had included actors  put forward by fans. The images, created by Japanese casino 6takarakuji, imagines how IMDb’s dream cast - as voted for by fans -  for the highly popular HBO TV series would actually look in action.

According to the fan choices, the top pick for the series lead Joel Miller is Hugh Jackman (54), who’d be a good fit for the supposedly 56-year old character (in the 2023 timeline) - with fans online pointing out that he’s already portrayed a similar role in Logan (2017). He paints a striking figure donning the iconic jacket (even if it is the wrong colour) and carrying a huge gun - but many will say now that there’s no better Joel than Pedro Pascal.

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Other actors that fans put forward for Joel were Josh Brolin (Deadpool, Avengers: Infinity War, No Country for Old Men) and Gerard Butler (300, The Phantom of the Opera). Fans were more divided when it came to casting Ellie Williams, with equal enthusiasm shown for Booksmart’s Kaitlyn Dever and Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams.

The AI also imagined what Maisie Williams could look like were she to take on the role of Ellie, even though she is also slightly too old to accurately portray the character at 25.

The AI depiction of Hugh Jackman as Joel in The Last of Us (Photo: 6takarakuji )The AI depiction of Hugh Jackman as Joel in The Last of Us (Photo: 6takarakuji )
The AI depiction of Hugh Jackman as Joel in The Last of Us (Photo: 6takarakuji ) | 6takarakuji

In fact, Maisie was reportedly in talks to play Ellie when The Last of Us TV series was first conceived in 2014, back when she was 15. Speaking on whether she’d been keen to play the part, she said: “There’s no script, no director, it’s still very early days for the whole project, but if it all goes ahead soon enough I think, yeah, I would love to.”

Ultimately it didn’t go ahead, but if it had, the AI rendering gives us an insight into what Ellie could have looked like. It’s given her some slightly more tamed tresses than in the video game and she seems to be wearing some fetching earrings, but generally she’s a good fit.

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Speaking on the images, a spokesperson for 6takarakuji said: “The most interesting thing about this art is that it proposes a new application for AI, as casting directors could use generated images as a basis for selecting their ideal cast - particularly for characters in a game-to-film adaptation.

“Part of the success of The Last of Us series is that the cast is amazing, even despite the initial backlash. However, it’s fun to see what fan casts look like ‘in real life’ nonetheless.”

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