Bella Ramsey can take a tough punch. However they’ll additionally give some again.
To take action, the actor integrated a brand new aspect into their preparation for the second season of “The Last of Us”: bodily coaching.
For 2 months, they practiced martial arts and labored to change into more adept in fight and weapons. Additionally they labored to extend their power.
“It was fun,” says Ramsey of their battle coaching. “Getting physically fit and strong, it was great to have an excuse to do that.”
“It’s since all gone away,” they add.
One of many first scenes the 21-year-old British actor shot for Season 2 is the battle in a barn seen in Sunday’s premiere. Extra a coaching train than an precise altercation, Ramsey’s Ellie ultimately takes down her a lot bigger foe earlier than studying, to her chagrin, that her opponent pulled his punches.
“My favorite days were the stunt days,” says Ramsey. “I had so many bruises all the time … My lip got busted open [while filming] Season 2. I still got a little scar on my lip.”
Created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama is about in a world that’s ravaged by the outbreak of a mysterious cordyceps fungus. Contaminated human hosts remodel into lethal monsters which might be pushed to proceed spreading the illness.
Ramsey performs Ellie, a snarky and resilient teenage woman who occurs to be the one recognized human who’s proof against the fungus. The primary season of the acclaimed online game adaptation adopted Ellie and her initially reluctant guardian Joel (performed by Pedro Pascal) as they traveled cross-country in hopes of serving to the efforts to make a treatment. Issues don’t go as deliberate.
“The Last of Us” star Bella Ramsey says capturing Season 2 was extra grueling than the primary.
(Bexx Francois / For The Instances)
The physicality of the season that begins proper out the gate was one of many issues Druckmann had mentioned with Ramsey and he counseled them on their dedication to coaching. With Ramsey standing at simply over 5 toes tall, Ellie makes use of her dimension as an asset — combining nimbleness and reckless overconfidence to subdue a lot bigger foes, individuals and contaminated alike.
“There was a lot of dedication into getting physically ready, which I believe helped them get emotionally ready as well for this role,” he says, calling Ramsey “the best.”
Sitting cross-legged on a settee in a West Hollywood resort suite on a morning in March, Ramsey admits readily that doing press shouldn’t be their favourite a part of the job. And regardless of it being almost 10 years since their breakout function because the fierce Lyanna Mormont in “Game of Thrones,” the quantity of consideration that comes from portraying the lead in a blockbuster present like “The Last of Us” is of a totally totally different magnitude. (“For ‘Game of Thrones’ I had, like, two phone call interviews. It was amazing,” they reminisced.)
Nonetheless, they’re sport for a meandering dialog that detours via anecdotes in regards to the style of mushroom cupcakes (thanks, British Vogue), showing in a current music video for Girlband!, fearing for his or her life whereas on a turbulent seaplane trip and even their go-to karaoke tune — “Titanium” by David Guetta.
As they appear again at their time filming the second season, Ramsey admits that the shoot was rather more grueling and difficult for them this time round. Additionally they notice greater than as soon as that they’ve seen the parallels between their character and themselves. For example, in Season 2, we see Ellie attempting to determine her independence and get away from Joel’s helicopter parenting.
“I definitely feel that too,” says Ramsey, who selected to stay on their very own whereas capturing this season, in contrast to the primary after they lived with their mom. “Wanting people to trust that I’m good and I got it and I can do stuff on my own.”
Additionally they really feel very related to the character as a result of enjoying Ellie has helped them perceive extra about themself.
Jesse (Younger Mazino) is one in every of Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) pals launched in “The Last of Us” Season 2.
(Liane Hentscher/HBO)
Choosing up 5 years after the occasions of the primary season, the Season 2 opener reveals that Ellie and Joel’s relationship has change into strained since shifting to the settlement in Jackson, Wyo. Season 1 ended with Joel studying that the one method to develop a possible treatment to the an infection concerned surgically eradicating Ellie’s mind. It results in his lethal rampage in opposition to the Fireflies, the militia group in command of the ability the place the process was to happen. Joel then lies to Ellie about what occurred.
Ramsey describes Joel’s actions as an “ethical conundrum.”
“I understand it and have a lot of empathy for him, but what he did was obviously wrong,” Ramsey says . However “there is no right or wrong answer, really. I think it’s really nuanced and sort of personal … In Season 2, we see the repercussions of that and the lie. I think the lie was the thing that was worse.”
Though it’s unclear how a lot Ellie is aware of about what occurred, it’s hinted that she suspects Joel has not been fully truthful. Among the many issues Ramsey discovered fascinating about Ellie in Season 2 is that we see her working in a group. For an orphan who grew up principally alone, being part of a household unit is one thing fully new. Ramsey was additionally desperate to discover Ellie’s anger as somebody who doesn’t usually expertise it on their very own.
“I think Bella really embraces the difficult part of being Ellie … which is that Ellie is our protagonist, until Ellie is not,” Mazin says. “That there is hero and villain in this person, and that that’s part of the the point of all of this. That our reliance on people being heroes or villains does us a disservice, and it leads to some pretty bad behavior.”
“I think for Bella as an actor, it was just exciting to not have to portray somebody that everybody would be cheering for all the time,” he added. “They were very excited at the prospect of being somebody that people would struggle with.”
Mazin is filled with fatherly affection for Ramsey as he describes the younger actor as “an old soul.” He reveals that very like Ellie, Ramsey has a goofy humorousness and a love of puns. However their greatest distinction, in line with Mazin, is Ramsey’s inclination towards kindness.
“Bella’s instinct is to be more concerned about other people than they are with themselves,” Mazin says. “Ellie has a more self-centered point of view. Ellie’s world is her and Joel and God help anybody who gets in the middle of it.”
Within the first episode of Season 2, Dina (Isabela Merced) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) share a detailed second throughout a New Yr’s Eve dance.
(Liane Hentscher / HBO)
This kindness is most tangible as Ramsey discusses their ideas on id and illustration and the communities they signify. Final month the actor shared they’re autistic in an interview with British Vogue. In 2023, simply earlier than the present’s premiere, they talked about being nonbinary in an interview with the New York Instances.
“I’m really bad at keeping my own secrets,” says Ramsey, who does worth their privateness but in addition acknowledges their platform is a privilege. So “when I’m in an interview setting … I’m very susceptible to just telling people personal things. But it didn’t feel like a big decision.”
“If there’s a way that I can speak up for the issues that matter and let people know that being yourself is actually like … the best possible way you can move through the world … it’s something that is definitely a blessing of being in the public eye,” they add.
Becoming a member of Ramsey as a part of the present’s Season 2 forged are Isabela Merced as Dina, Ellie’s finest buddy and love curiosity, in addition to Younger Mazino as Jesse, one other shut buddy of Ellie’s who used to this point Dina. Additionally new is Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby, who’s on a quest for vengeance.
Whereas Ramsey solely has effusive reward for his or her castmates, in addition they admit they had been a bit nervous heading into the season. As somebody who has all the time felt like adults had been simpler to befriend whilst a toddler, Ramsey says they get “quite intimidated” by individuals of their age group.
“I felt like the shy new kid,” says Ramsey. “They were all so cool, I felt like the shy, awkward one.”
Regardless of some prodding, Ramsey is a professional at steering the dialog away from any spoilers and so they had been much more diligent than the showrunners.
Mazin, for example, confirms that Ramsey shall be singing and enjoying the guitar as Ellie this season. (“That’s Bella, no tricks!” he says.) Druckmann provides that Ramsey was even concerned within the discussions round what tune they might play.
Taking part in and making music, Ramsey shares, are among the many issues they flip to with a view to decompress. And although it’s a bit on the backburner proper now, they assume they are going to in all probability launch some songs “in a sneaky way” ultimately.
“Music has sort of given me the same feelings of joy and satisfaction that being on set gives me,” says Ramsey. “It’s nice to have another outlet to be able to feel that way.”
Bella Ramsey says they really feel like “the shy new kid” round their new castmates.
(Bexx Francois / For The Instances)
Druckmann additionally mentions that Ellie and Dina’s romance is rather more established firstly of “The Last of Us Part II” sport than it’s on TV. The present, nevertheless, takes its time to develop their relationship as extra of a gradual burn.
Whereas the second season of “The Last of Us” arrives at a time when right-wing hostilities in the direction of LGBTQ+ communities and their rights proceed to be on the rise, the franchise has been the goal of homophobic and transphobic backlash for years.
“It sort of feels good to make those people angry about it,” says Ramsey. “You can be angry about it but it’s not going to change the fact that the show is coming out and there’s women kissing in it and there’s a trans character in the game, Lev.”
Nonetheless, Ellie and Dina being subjected to homophobic remarks within the first episode of the season feels notably well timed within the present political local weather. Earlier than the altercation, Ellie is telling Dina that individuals shouldn’t understand her as a risk regardless of the latter’s insistence.
“I think it’s really important with shows like this to show that we’re not a threat,” says Ramsey. “That ‘there’s no reason to be [terrified], I’m not a threat’ line is very relevant to the communities that this show and other art represents. [We’re] just human beings like everybody else. There’s no reason to be threatened by communities who are bringing so much light and love into the world.”
Which may be true in regard to the LGBTQ+ group — however that doesn’t change the truth that Ellie is fairly harmful.
