After receiving some flak for her casting as Ellie, The Last of Us actor Bella Ramsey replies to fan adulation for her performance.
Based on the Naughty Dog video game series of the same name, The Last of Us follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie as they travel to a post-apocalyptic version of the United States 20 years after a deadly fungus wreaked havoc on the globe.
The program, created by Craig Mazin, has received critical acclaim, with special appreciation for the world-building, storytelling, and chemistry between Pascal and Ramsey.
In a recent interview with GQ, Ramsey responds to the outpouring of adoration for her portrayal as Ellie as The Last of Us continues to screen new episodes.
The first response to her casting was centered on the physical disparities between Ramsey and Ellie as she appears in the games, and Ramsey confesses that it did bother her. See the actor’s complete statement below:
In The Last of Us, Bella Ramsey is the ideal Ellie.
In many aspects, HBO’s The Last of Us has remained authentic to the games, presenting an overgrown, post-apocalyptic depiction of the United States that appears to have been pulled directly from Naughty Dog’s source material.
Joel and Ellie have been outfitted mostly as they appear in the games, and the numerous infected animals look the part and are also extremely horrifying. Despite its devotion to The Last of Us games, the show has not been reluctant to break new territory, portraying a similar plot while allowing for some creative freedom.
While Mazin and the creative team behind The Last of Us could have found actors who looked more like Joel and Ellie to fulfill the roles, the objective was clearly to cast two actors with the correct chemistry.
Pascal and Ramsey have shown to be very accomplished actors in past projects, notably Game of Thrones, but the interaction between them is the foundation of the entire program.
So far, Pascal and Ramsey have shown the warming relationship between Joel and Ellie with sensitivity and rawness, with both characters carrying the weight of horrific previous experiences.
While Ramsey may not look exactly like Ellie from The Last of Us games, she has captured what makes the character so empathic and watchable, which is ultimately far more essential.
The game’s plot and characters remain among the finest in the business. Still, Ramsey and Pascal have effectively made their characters their own, making HBO’s The Last of Us seem fresh, intriguing, and full of depth.