14 DAY TRIAL // Developer Naughty Dog has acknowledged that the character of Ellie in the newly launched The Last of Us trailer was rather different from that shown during the initial reveal of the game, which happened in December 2011.
Neil Druckmann, who is the creative director of The Last of Us, told IGN that, “When we came up with the character of Ellie we put a lot of thought into what we wanted her to look like, researching the facial proportions, coloring and bone structures of dozens of faces and bodies.
“In addition to this, we held numerous casting sessions to ensure we had the right performance capture artist to represent Ellie, eventually selecting actress Ashley Johnson.”
He added, “As we’re still in the midst of development with The Last of Us, the team has been continuing to put a lot of thought into the creation of Ellie.
“After delving further into the game’s narrative over the past few months, we decided to modify Ellie’s model to better reflect Ashley’s personality, and also resemble a slightly younger teen more fitting to the story.”
The initial look of Ellie owed a lot to the character of Juno as portrayed by Ellen Page in the movie with the same name.
Since then the development team at Naughty Dog has spent more time with Ashley Johnson, who is the actress chosen to portray the character, and has adapted the look of Ellie to better reflect her own personality and the demands of the story.
Druckmann says the entire team is very satisfied with the recently launched trailer and hopes that fans will also feel a connection to the two characters and their narrative.
The Last of Us will portray two characters who seek to flee civilization after an apocalyptic event.
The game will be launched on the PlayStation 3 late during 2012 or early next year.