Bella Ramsey Opened Up About “Fixating” On Comparing Themselves To How Ellie Physically Looks In “The Last Of Us” Game
“It was a challenge for me to let myself off the hook for not looking computer-generated.”
It’s no secret that The Last of Us is one of the most talked-about TV shows right now. And at the center of everything is Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie Williams.
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And while Season 1 of the hit HBO series involved Bella essentially being in almost every scene, alongside Pedro Pascal, Season 2 ups the stakes and makes Bella’s Ellie the main leading character.
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As Ellie’s story in Season 2 unfolds, which is based on The Last of Us Part II game from Naughty Dog, audiences will see a ruthless and incredibly skilled fighter who is willing to go to the ends of the earth for the people she loves, especially after the events of Episode 2 titled “Through The Valley.”
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There’s also a five-year time jump between the end of Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2, which means Ellie is also older than the last time fans saw her.
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All of this is to say that in the games, Ellie looks visibly different from how she does in the first game vs. the second. It’s easy to age up a video game character, give her more muscles, etc. But for the TV adaptation, that all fell on Bella’s shoulders, which is no easy task.
Before the start of filming for Season 2, Bella went through intense physical training. They trained in boxing, jiu-jitsu, and weight training. Then, Bella continued training while filming took place, this time alternating between filming and stunt training.
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Bella told the outlet, “I got quite fixated on the way that Ellie looks in the game and her physical stature and, to be specific, the muscle definition in her arms. And I didn’t look like that. My body type isn’t that.”
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“I talked about this a lot with Craig [Mazin, the co-creator of the show], and he never put that expectation on me. He wanted me to look strong and feel strong, and that was in how I carried myself, my posture and the confidence you have. It was a challenge for me to let myself off the hook for not looking computer-generated,” Bella added.
The expectation that Bella somehow needs to look exactly like the video game character is something that continues to swirl on social media, with critics often criticizing how Bella looks compared to Ellie in The Last of Us Part II. They told the Hollywood Reporter the release of the second season is one of the reasons they deleted their social media accounts earlier this year.
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Bella said, “It wasn’t like this big dramatic thing, but there was an element of it that was thinking about the show coming out for Season 2. If I just avoid Twitter and Reddit, which now I’m doing, then everything’s totally fine.”
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For the TV show adaptation, the important thing was that Bella feels comfortable doing all of the physically demanding stunts and scenes the show will now demand of them. So it was never a matter of needing to LOOK like Ellie in the game, but rather feel comfortable, which was achieved. Bella added, “It was cool to feel really…capable.”
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Co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckman, who also created the game, have continuously shut down critics who have even gone as far as saying that Bella needed to be recast for Season 2 because they physically looked different than Ellie in the game.
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Ashley Johnson, who voiced and did the motion capture for Ellie in both games, has also talked about how Bella was the perfect person to be cast as Ellie.
Craig doubled down on his praise of Bella, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “I’m not interested in the physical aspect, I’m interested in the emotional maturity and the change in personality. I’ve watched Bella grow and start to find her own two feet. … And I feel that in Ellie completely.”
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Personally, Bella’s ability to emotionally portray Ellie is what is most important, and I’m excited to see them tackle the absolute heartbreak and brutal moments that are still to come in Season 2.
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