During a recent Gold Derby video interview, contributor Sam Eckmann spoke in-depth with Bella Ramsey (“The Last Of Us”) about her HBO horror show, which is eligible at the 2023 Emmys. Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.
Ramsey portrays Ellie on the hit TV adaptation that’s based on “The Last of Us” video game. She spends the majority of her time on the show with her co-star Pedro Pascal, who plays Ellie’s caretaker Joel. As fate would have it, the pair were both featured on “Game of Thrones” and had two of the most iconic deaths in a series completely full of brutal demises.
“I was aware of the game,” the actress confirmed. “I hadn’t played it, but I’d read about it. I’d read about its queer storylines actually. I think that’s how I first got to know about it, and yeah, it was great … And they also didn’t want me to watch or play the game,” Ramsey later revealed.
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Sam Eckmann: Hello everyone. I’m Sam Eckmann of Gold Derby and I’m here with Bella Ramsey of the HBO series, The Last of Us. I think one of my favorite results of this show, Bella, is all of your social media posts detailing kind of the friendship of you and Pedro Pascal is really great to see. How quickly did that form? What made that friendship kind of lock in?
Bella Ramsey: I mean, yeah, although I’ve been pleased to be able to post behind the scenes photos now, I think there was an instant connection when we first met. The first time we met was actually on set. Pedro was there for, I think he was filming. I hadn’t started filming yet. Yeah, we met and, yeah, there was instant connection, but I’d say we really bonded from being in a car together. What episode would it have been? It would’ve been episode three. I think being in, yeah, something about being stuck in a car with someone that you just can’t help but bond. We instantly got on and our relationship just grew and grew throughout the entire show.
SE: Yeah. Did you compare notes about Game of Thrones since you didn’t actually intersect on that show?
BR: Yeah, we did. We had very different experiences of it. He did all of his stuff in the warm countries, and I did all of mine in rainy Belfast. I think we had very different experiences, but we bonded over the fact that it was the launchpad for both of our careers. It was like Pedro’s big break and my first show ever. It was, yeah, it was a great time and the team are so talented and, yeah, they very much take you under their wing, I think, when you’re on Game of Thrones. It felt very protected and nice. Yeah.
SE: That’s great. I think you were about 11 years old when you first signed onto that series, which is very young to decide, I’m going to start this acting career. What was it then that made you fall in love with acting and decide, I want to do this and I want to do it now?
BR: Well, I decided that… I don’t think I ever… I’m thinking out loud. I never just considered that being an actress a thing you could do until I got this part. I was part of a group called The Television Workshop who act as your agent as well as just being a great place to go to once a week. That’s how I got into it and ended up getting these auditions, got the Game of Thrones audition, and then it wasn’t until I was on set and I just felt instantly it was where I was supposed to be, which is kind of a cliche and kind of cringey. There was nowhere… I’d never felt like I’d sort of belonged anywhere more than I felt like that on Game of Thrones. I was so young and more than I had… Yeah, it was the first time on a set and then since then that feeling has continued. It’s like every set I go to, it’s just like, I’m just so instantly comfortable. I’m never instantly comfortable in a place, but sets are magical for me.
SE: That’s great. Well, on this show, The Last of Us, it’s based on a video game, which the game actually was a huge moment in the industry and I think changed storytelling in the gaming industry. Were you aware of that game? Did you go back to that for inspiration at all? What’s your relationship like with that?
BR: I was aware of the game. I hadn’t played it, but I’d read about it. I’d read about its queer storylines actually. I think that’s how I first got to know about it, and yeah, it was great. I mean I read the scripts and everything was… All the best bits of the game was just so well translated for the screen in Craig’s scripts that I didn’t feel like I needed… And they also didn’t want me to watch or play the game. I did watch some of the gameplay though to get me into it. I think that was really helpful, but yeah, I didn’t know that much about it really.
SE: Yeah, it’s interesting because there’s certain scenes that are almost line for line recreations. I’m thinking of you have a great moment with Pedro in that pink bedroom, which is a very famous scene from the game. That’s an incredible moment. What is it like looking at that when it’s already been done and it’s so close to the game, how do you then go in and find your own way to interpret that?
BR: Oh, it’s a lot of pressure, for sure. I lost sleep over that scene after we did it. You’re just constantly thinking about how I could have done it better. Yeah, it’s a challenge definitely because you want to do it justice, because it was so brilliantly done, but at the same time it isn’t supposed to be an exact replica. I think it’s just about having to have the knowledge of the game version, just trust that’s in my subconscious, and then just go for it on the day. I think the more that I think about it, the more that I think about the scene that I’m doing, the worse that it is, weirdly. The more that I don’t think about it and just be in it, the better, so just try to do that.
SE: Did your friendship with Pedro help that scene or did it make it harder because they say some very hurtful things to one another in that moment?
BR: They do. No, it was definitely helpful. My friendship with Pedro was definitely helpful for that scene, because we both felt the pressure of that because we knew how iconic it was and we’d both beat ourselves up over it. It was nice to have that friend. I could just look at him and know exactly what was going on in his head. I was just like, “Stop it. Stop torturing yourself.” He would do the same to me. Yeah, we helped each other out massively. I think we really lent on each other during that scene and other iconic moments that we felt the pressure.
SE: And you have Neil Druckmann there working on the show who helped create all of this. Was there any kind of a particular piece of insight he offered about Ellie that was meaningful, that helped your character building?
BR: Yeah, I mean we talked a lot. I had a meeting with Neil actually. He directed one of the episodes, episode two I think it was he directed, so we went out for lunches and then chatted about it all. I can’t remember specifics to be honest of specific things that he told me about Ellie, but we just generally chatted about the character and about Ashley. The thing that he kept telling me was how similar me and Ashley are in terms of personality and mannerisms and stuff, so that was cool. We sort of just chatted about that and, yeah, he’s great.
SE: I really appreciate that this show and this story, even though it’s an apocalyptic setting, has very human quiet moments to it. It’s not always about the infected people. I think you have a great moment in the Left Behind episode as Ellie’s backstory. What was it like zooming into the characters that way and exploring that with Storm?
BR: It was really cool and I’m really glad we got to see Ellie’s backstory. Again, it’s a very big part of her life, but that was what? That whole episode took place over the space of two hours or something. It was two hours of her life, but so much happened and so much changed in that two hours. It was so fun. I was really hoping that the Left Behind story would be in the show and I was really pleased when I saw that it was. Yeah, working with Storm was great. We just had a lot of fun and it was nice to do a lighter episode for some of it. Some of it was lighter. Yeah.
SE: Maybe not the end.
BR: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it’s fine. It was a lot of fun, and that was the first day back after Christmas break. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I loved the escalator bit. I was knackered, I was so tired after that I went and had McDonald’s fries after. There was a McDonald’s right outside. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a McDonald’s, because I’m vegan so I don’t eat McDonald’s fries were a necessity after that then, for that scene.
SE: A good comfort treat. Yeah, for sure. That’s kind of an opposite scenario from you and Pedro who got to spend so much time together. By contrast, you and Storm just have this one moment to really come together. How did you two kind of work on your chemistry and your history together?
BR: I mean we didn’t really, and me and Pedro didn’t either to begin with. We just met and were thrown straight into it, and me and Storm were the same. We literally met for the first time when we were on set or for rehearsals the day before, so we didn’t really have the chance to sit down and talk about it and figure it out. Everything that we needed was really in the scripts. It was such a handbook full of everything that we needed. Craig and Neil were always on hand to chat if we had any questions, but I think we just went for it. We just like… Yeah, you just sort of have to go for it and hope that it works. I think it did.
SE: Definitely did. That episode ends with an attack, which is not the first time you encounter those. I love how they introduced the Clickers in this series because it’s just as terrifying as in the game. What was your first reaction when you saw the people in that crazy makeup?
BR: It was so cool. Yeah, the prosthetics were incredible. I’m so desensitized to things now from working in this industry since I was 11 that it sort of didn’t bother me. Seeing Troy Baker with the ax in his neck in episode eight, was it, I realized afterwards that I just had no reaction because it’s so normal for me to see this sort of thing on a daily basis now. No, the detail of the prosthetic pieces was insane and everyone wanted to just prod them, sort of foamy. We just wanted to touch.
SE: I think there’s, speaking of desensitizing, there’s a really nicely teased arc for Ellie about her kind of relationship to violence and her fascination with it. From the moment in that first episode where Joel beats the guard outside of Boston, you see this look on her face and she’s kind of in awe and that grows and is charted over the whole series. Is that difficult for you to chart that kind of incremental growth over a span of time?
BR: I had a lot of help with that. It was basically just at the time… If there was any specific… I didn’t think about it to be honest. The incremental thing that didn’t really… But if there was anything that was specific, we chatted about it on the day and just felt it. Yeah, the violence thing is interesting. I think she definitely is. David was right, she does have a violent heart and just seeing the moments that comes out in season one is really interesting and, yeah, definitely hint to more violence later. Her capacity for violence, I think, is actually what scares her. I think it scares her, yeah, and that’s why she can’t hear it when David says she has a violent heart. I think it’s like, yeah, I think she knows that she does and it scares her. The same when she chops his face in at the end, I think what she’s more scared, not of David in that moment, but of what she did and what she’s capable.
SE: Yeah. Well, that episode is really great. That’s the one point in the story where you’re really without Joel and it seems like Ellie is almost surprised at herself as she attacks David, even though it’s very much justified. There’s such an emotional release after that moment. What was filming that like?
BR: Intense. Yeah, that was one of the longest days that we did. The actual hacking of that was at the very, very end of a very long day with fire. Yeah, it was a lot, but it was, yeah, as you say, it was an emotional release for sure. She’s on fight or flight mode the entire time and this was the epitome of the fight mode. Yeah, I think it was complete instinct and she had no control over herself, and that’s what I think is so terrifying and cool for me playing it. Yeah.
SE: Terrifying for the character, for sure. I want to talk about kind of her position at the end, because the end of this story is very infamous and Joel makes the decision to lie to Ellie about what’s actually happened. How much do you think Ellie is aware? Does she totally buy it? What is the level of trust there at the end of this season?
BR: That’s a good question. I don’t think she does totally buy it. Craig’s there, I don’t think she… I think she… How much am I allowed to say about how Ellie feels in the last moments? Ask him, he wrote it.
Craig: Yeah. What is he asking? How you felt in the last moments?
BR: Yeah. Do I believe Joel? I don’t think that I
C: She’s not allowed to answer that question.
BR: I’m not allowed to.
SE: No worries.
BR: I know, I did try and plug it in, but didn’t work.
C: Oh well, it’s lunchtime.
BR: Okay.
SE: Well, we won’t make you answer anything else. You don’t want to spoil anything. Speaking of, we can’t wait for season two to happen. Have you looked? Have you spoiled yourself for second game things to anticipate what’s coming next? Are you getting excited?
BR: Yeah, I’m well excited. I know a lot about what… There’s still a lot that I don’t know, but I’ve watched people make these incredible movies of the gameplay on YouTube, so I’ve watched a couple of them when we were shooting season one. I couldn’t help myself. I would just watch her and Ellie and Dina’s story in season two and I know what happens as well with other things. Yeah, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be great. I’m really excited. I don’t know when we start actually, but at some point and it’s going to be so much fun. I can’t wait to go back.
SE: Well, we all cannot wait to see the finished product. I hope you have a great time making it. Thank you so much for sitting down with me. For everyone who’s out there watching, subscribe to Gold Derby. Bella, thank you so much again.
BR: Thank you. Nice to see you.
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