Bella Ramsey, who portrays Ellie in the HBO series "The Last of Us," has confirmed her expected return for the show's third season, despite the season two finale leaving her character's fate uncertain. In a May 25 interview with Variety, Ramsey stated, "I haven’t seen any scripts, but yes, I do expect that. I think that I’m going to be there, but not a whole bunch."

The confirmation follows the May 25 season two finale, titled "Convergence," which ended on a cliffhanger for Ellie. The narrative is anticipated to shift its focus towards Kaitlyn Dever's character, Abby, in the lead-up to a significant confrontation between Abby and Ellie. Ramsey acknowledged this shift, mentioning it's "most likely" that Ellie's screen time will be reduced to accommodate Abby's storyline.

Series co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have also corroborated Ramsey's return. In a May 23 press conference, Mazin affirmed, "All I can say is we haven’t seen the last of Kaitlyn Dever, and we haven’t seen the last of Bella Ramsey." However, the specifics of Ramsey's involvement in the upcoming season were not detailed.

Mazin further teased that audiences haven't seen the last of Dina, played by Isabela Merced, or even "a lot of people who are currently dead in the story." Druckmann, who co-created both the video game series and the show, added that the presence of these characters, whether on screen or not, will be felt throughout. This hints at the potential for characters like Pedro Pascal's Joel, who was killed by Abby in season two, to reappear, possibly in flashbacks. Druckmann cited an unexpected short story about Joel's father in season two as an example of the show's unpredictable narrative turns, saying, "You can’t predict these things."