The showrunners for HBO’s The Last of Us have other ideas. We just found out that the lead actors for the upcoming post-apocalyptic survival show have not yet played The Last of Us. In a recent interview with USA Today, Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie, revealed that she has not played the game. “I 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, has, however, watched gameplay footage of The Last of Us online to understand her character better. She also admitted that she was not familiar with the games before being cast into the role of Ellie. The logic behind the showrunners’ encouragement for Ramsey not to play the game may be because her role is not intended to be an exact replica of Ellie. The Last of Us games does evoke a lot of emotions and may influence how the actor portrays the role. Intentionally distancing herself from the source material may bring out the best and most natural portrayal of Ellie from such a talented actor. It makes a world of difference when an actor adapts to the role naturally rather than just copying a character that someone else has played. Similarly, Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel, also distanced himself from the game. He shares that he has watched his nephew play The Last of Us and found Joel impressive. Pascal explains “I found the whole of it such a visually impressive experience. And then I got worried that I would want to imitate too much, which I think could be right in some circumstances, and then a mistake in others.”
A life-changing experience
Bella Ramsey also revealed that the experience of filming the series for an entire year had left its mark on her, saying: Ramsey is no stranger to filming an HBO TV series. She previously played Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones. She appeared in nine episodes of the series from 2016 to 2019. But, if you ask her what she’d do in case a zombie apocalypse happened, Ramsey remarks that she has “zero survival strategies” and she’d probably just did herself a hole and cry. The Last of Us will be available for streaming on HBO Max in 2023.
