The 15 Best Ella Purnell Roles

Ella Purnell has built a wide-ranging résumé across live-action and voice work, moving from early feature films into headline TV roles and major franchises. From survival drama to post-apocalyptic adventure and animated epics, she has taken on leads, core ensemble parts, and memorable supporting turns that showcase range across genres.

This list gathers the standout movies and shows where she plays pivotal characters—series regulars, leads, and key supporting roles—with quick, practical context on each project and what her character does within it. It’s designed as an easy reference for deciding what to watch next in her filmography.

‘Fallout’ (2024–present) – Lucy MacLean

Prime Video’s adaptation of the video-game series follows life inside Vault 33 and the brutal world beyond after the Great War. Ella Purnell plays Lucy MacLean, a cheerful but principled Vault Dweller who leaves the safety of her community when her father is abducted, crossing paths with factions like the Brotherhood of Steel and figures such as the Ghoul on a trek across irradiated California.

The series was developed by the creative team behind ‘Westworld’, with production design built to mirror the games’ retro-futurist look, from Pip-Boys and Nuka-Cola to vault jumpsuits. Lucy’s story thread anchors the show’s core mystery about vault experiments and pre-war power players, placing her at the center of the show’s intersecting plots.

‘Yellowjackets’ (2021–present) – Jackie Taylor

Showtime’s psychological survival drama tracks a high-school girls’ soccer team after a plane crash, intercut with present-day fallout. Ella Purnell portrays Jackie Taylor, the team captain whose status, relationships, and choices shape early group dynamics in the wilderness and ripple through the adult timeline.

Jackie appears principally in the wilderness timeline, where her influence frames conflicts over leadership, resources, and social bonds. The role continues to inform later seasons through memories and consequences that affect other characters, giving context to ongoing secrets, guilt, and shifting alliances.

‘Arcane’ (2021–2024) – Jinx (voice)

Set in the ‘League of Legends’ universe, ‘Arcane’ explores the divided cities of Piltover and Zaun. Ella Purnell voices Jinx, a Zaunite with a traumatic past whose inventions and impulsive acts drive major confrontations between enforcers, smugglers, and scientists.

The series blends hand-painted animation with CG to deliver action sequences synchronized to character beats. Jinx’s arc connects directly to Vi, Silco, and key Piltover figures, tying her gadgets, graffiti, and signal flares to pivotal plot turns across the show’s multi-chapter structure.

‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ (2021–2024) – Gwyndala (voice)

This all-ages ‘Star Trek’ entry follows a group of young aliens who commandeer the USS Protostar and learn Federation principles. Ella Purnell voices Gwyndala, a polyglot Vau N’Akat raised under the villainous Diviner, whose skills in language and negotiation repeatedly defuse crises.

Gwyn’s progression from conflicted daughter to bridge-ready cadet forms a core character journey. Her decisions affect Protostar crew dynamics, the ship’s mission parameters, and Starfleet contact protocols, while also tying into time-loop stakes and Vau N’Akat technology.

‘Army of the Dead’ (2021) – Kate Ward

Zack Snyder’s heist-meets-zombie film assembles a mercenary team to retrieve cash from a quarantined Las Vegas. Ella Purnell plays Kate Ward, a volunteer coordinator who enters the city to locate a missing person and becomes a key link between the mission objective and civilian rescues.

Kate’s navigation expertise and knowledge of the quarantine community help the group move through zones controlled by organized “alpha” zombies. Her interactions with Scott Ward and the team influence route choices, extraction timing, and critical decisions amid the city’s shifting threat map.

‘Sweetpea’ (2024–present) – Rhiannon Lewis

Based on CJ Skuse’s novel, this darkly comic thriller centers on Rhiannon Lewis, played by Ella Purnell, an office underling at a local paper whose carefully managed life fractures after personal losses and a bully’s return. The show follows her private lists, escalating choices, and the strain between a public façade and secret actions.

Production credits include See-Saw Films with Ella Purnell among the executive producers. The series uses diary-like narration, workplace subplots, and small-town settings to track Rhiannon’s routines, relationships, and investigations that put her in conflict with coworkers and figures from her past.

‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ (2016) – Emma Bloom

Adapted from Ransom Riggs’ novel, this fantasy adventure introduces a hidden loop where “peculiar” children live under Miss Peregrine’s protection. Ella Purnell plays Emma Bloom, who can manipulate air and wields a lead-shod tether to counter her own buoyancy, acting as a frontline defender when the home is threatened.

Emma’s knowledge of the loop’s rules and the group’s safe-passage methods becomes essential once hollows and wights disrupt the status quo. Her collaboration with Jacob and other peculiars drives the rescue plan, artifact retrieval, and navigation across multiple loops.

‘Belgravia’ (2020) – Lady Maria Grey

Julian Fellowes’ period drama traces secrets born at a high-society ball and their impact decades later among London’s elite. Ella Purnell portrays Lady Maria Grey, whose engagement and social standing intersect with revelations about lineage, inheritance, and shifting class boundaries.

Maria’s storyline connects the Grey and Trenchard families, lining up marriage negotiations, dowry calculations, and contested claims. The role provides a focal point for legal arrangements, letters, and social calls that propel the series’ dispute over legitimacy and status.

‘Ordeal by Innocence’ (2018) – Hester Argyll

This Agatha Christie adaptation re-examines a family matriarch’s murder after a new alibi emerges for the convicted son. Ella Purnell plays Hester Argyll, one of the adopted children, whose testimony, movements, and relationships are re-scrutinized as investigators revisit timelines.

Hester’s scenes are structured around household interrogations, itemized evidence, and revised witness accounts. Her perspective complicates assumptions about motive and opportunity, feeding into the re-ordered suspect list and the final reconstruction of events.

‘Sweetbitter’ (2018–2019) – Tess

Based on Stephanie Danler’s novel, ‘Sweetbitter’ follows Tess, played by Ella Purnell, as she joins the front-of-house team at a top New York restaurant. The series tracks her training milestones—sections, wine classes, and service standards—alongside after-hours culture and staff hierarchies.

Service sequences cover POS workflows, station resets, tasting notes, and kitchen-floor communication, while Tess’s interactions with coworkers map how mentorship, scheduling, and tip structures function at a high-volume fine-dining spot. The show weaves those details into her evolving responsibilities.

‘Wildlike’ (2014) – Mackenzie

Set across Alaska, ‘Wildlike’ follows Mackenzie, portrayed by Ella Purnell, who flees a dangerous home situation and falls in with a solitary hiker. The film charts bus routes, ferry legs, and backcountry trails as she moves between towns and national-park terrain.

The production filmed on location across multiple Alaskan sites, using real trails, ferry passages, and small-community stops to anchor the itinerary. Mackenzie’s interactions frame logistics like transport links, gear needs, and route choices that shape each leg of the journey.

‘Kick-Ass 2’ (2013) – Dolce

In this superhero satire sequel, Ella Purnell appears as Dolce, one of Brooke’s friends within a high-school clique that intersects with Mindy’s attempt to navigate regular student life. The role ties into scenes where social pranks and retaliations escalate around Mindy’s secret identity complications.

Dolce’s presence marks points where school dynamics collide with vigilante chaos in the broader plotline. Her scenes help connect hallway politics to set-piece disruptions, linking classmates to the film’s larger costumed conflicts.

‘Intruders’ (2011) – Mia

This supernatural thriller follows parallel stories in London and Madrid involving a faceless entity and a manuscript that seeps into reality. Ella Purnell plays Mia, a girl whose written tales and nocturnal visitations create a chain of events involving parents, doctors, and investigators.

Mia’s storyline uses diaries, door locks, and environmental cues to track the entity’s encroachment, forming the basis for forensic checks and symbolic clues. Her scenes dovetail with the film’s other thread through shared names and texts that clarify how the phenomena cross borders.

‘Never Let Me Go’ (2010) – Young Ruth

Adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, the film follows students from a secluded school with a hidden purpose. Ella Purnell appears as the younger version of Ruth, providing early context for relationships that become central as the characters move into adulthood.

Young Ruth’s scenes establish classroom routines, exchanges on the playing fields, and dormitory etiquette that later echo in decisions made by the older characters. These flashback segments supply key information about tokens, artwork, and rumors that shape the story’s later developments.

‘Churchill’ (2017) – Helen Garrett

This historical drama centers on the tense lead-up to the D-Day landings, focusing on wartime strategy meetings and staff operations. Ella Purnell plays Helen Garrett, a typist and aide whose office tasks—dictation, memo handling, and schedule management—place her inside critical planning rooms.

Helen’s vantage point provides details on document circulation, security protocols, and staff coordination among military and government offices. Her interactions with senior figures illustrate how agenda drafts, minutes, and briefings passed between departments during high-pressure decision windows.

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