For Bella Ramsey, the true pressure of leading the second season of “The Last of Us” was not just mental. It stemmed from the physical reality of performing nearly every scene without the solidarity of co-star Pedro Pascal, whose character, Joel, is brutally killed in the second episode.
“I did feel the sense of, ‘Well, I’m just here every day all day for the next seven months and that’s so exhausting,’” Ramsey recalled. “But I love hard things. Doing hard things is how I feel satisfied and fulfilled.”
Season 2 required Ramsey to embody Ellie, a stubborn young woman in a post-apocalyptic world, with a newfound maturity. While they undertook new skills like extensive stunt training and guitar lessons, Ramsey primarily relied on instinct to access Ellie’s emotional state, finding the reprisal of the role “very familiar.”
“The way that she thinks and moves and speaks and acts and behaves is almost second nature because of how long I’ve lived in her,” Ramsey said. “She feels very easily accessible to me.”
Central to Ellie’s evolution is her burgeoning relationship with Dina (Isabela Merced). As the new couple journeys from Wyoming to Seattle to hunt down Joel’s killer, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), Ellie’s protective instincts intensify, especially after learning Dina is pregnant.
“I say this with all the love for Ellie, but she is quite selfish,” Ramsey explained. “But then she has these moments of, ‘Wait, it’s not just me anymore.’ She’s forced out of her inherent selfishness by love. She was forced to think about other people, which is growth for her.”
While Pascal was on set for a shorter period, Ramsey felt his absence keenly. “I was less in denial about Pascal’s exit than he was because I had felt the effects of him not being there,” they said. Filming the pivotal scene of Joel’s death was an unforgettable experience.
“I was dancing and getting hyped up. When we actually did it, I had to live in it for a little bit,” Ramsey recalled. “At the end of the day you feel this exhausted satisfaction and catharsis. But seeing his little face on the ground was pretty awful. I’ll never forget it.”
In stark contrast was the “joyful” experience of shooting a flashback episode with Pascal, directed by the video game’s creator, Neil Druckmann. The episode revisits Joel and Ellie’s relationship, including a shot-for-shot remake of an iconic scene where they visit an overgrown museum. Even then, Ramsey avoided mimicking the game, instead living the moment through their own understanding of the character.
The shoot was intensely physical, with Ramsey noting “every other day was a stunt day.” Having prepared with a stunt team in London, they performed all their own stunts, including a demanding sequence filmed in the ocean at night shortly after recovering from bronchitis. “The water collected in the wetsuit and my backpack, so it was so heavy,” Ramsey said. “I had to summon everything I had to be able to do it.”
The experience affirmed Ramsey’s capabilities as an actor, even teaching them a new skill for Season 2: crying on command. This year, Ramsey became the first out nonbinary actor to be nominated for an Emmy more than once for the same role, an honor they find gratifying.
“It’s nice to be seen,” Ramsey said. “I feel like that’s what people like me have been searching for: to be seen for who they are. It’s a lovely thing for that to happen on a large scale, and hopefully it will help other gender-nonconforming people to feel seen as well. I’m just existing, which is the point. I feel so grateful to have this accidental impact on people.”
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