Bella Ramsey was advised not to play The Last Of Us before taking on the role of Ellie in HBO’s upcoming adaptation. In an interview with USA Today, the 19-year-old actress, best known for her work on Game Of Thrones and Catherine Called Birdy, was “actually encouraged not to. After my first audition, they asked me, “Have you played it?” And I said, “Nope,” and they said, “Keep it that way.”
Ramsey admitted that she had watched “some of the game play on YouTube just to get a sense of it. But I’m so excited for it to come out – it was such a big part of my life. I shot for a whole year, which is quite a long time when you’ve only lived for 19 years.”
Speaking about her co-star and fellow Game of Thrones actor Pedro Pascal (Joel), Ramsey said he’d written her “a little card to me at the end, saying, “How interesting that something so huge and life-changing should happen so early in your life and so late in mine.” I thought it was a really sweet observation and I just had the best time.”
In an earlier story from GameLuster, Pedro Pascal admitted that he hadn’t played The Last Of Us out of fear he might “imitate” the character in the TV series. Instead, he revealed that he had to hand the controller over to his nephew. In preparing for the role, Pascal decided he wanted to put a “healthy distance” between himself and the game.
Alongside Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the series will further star Gabriel Luna (Tommy), Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett (Bill and Frank), Storm Reid (Riley), Merle Dandridge (Marlene), Anna Torv (Tess), Nico Parker (Sarah), and Jeffrey Pierce as an original character.
For more The Last Of Us content, take a look at GameLuster’s review for The Last Of Us Part I.
