Tackling Expectations, Critics, and Heartache in The Last of Us
It starts on a rainy evening with fungi documentaries on mute in a Welsh Airbnb. Bella Ramsey, a bundle of nerves and determination, scrolls her phone—determined to nail an audition that feels bigger than dragons or direwolves. The world knows her as Game of Thrones’ Lyanna Mormont, a pint-sized powerhouse who snarled at grown men. But HBO’s “The Last of Us”? That’s a whole new cauldron of pressure. Ellie Williams already belongs to millions of fiercely protective fans.
Let’s dig into how Bella Ramsey carried Ellie from the glowing PS3 screen straight into our undead-infected hearts. No masks, no cheats, and absolutely no clicker can stop her.
Finding Ellie: The Casting Gauntlet
Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the show’s creators, didn’t just look for an actor. They hunted for a soul. More than 100 auditions crossed their desks, and—thanks to COVID—they watched most of them over spotty Zoom calls. The role demanded a teenage girl with grit, humor, and sadness coiled tight beneath the surface.
Bella’s audition landed quietly yet confidently. She did the accent, sure. But she also brought something wild in her eyes. Druckmann said, “Bella felt so real—it didn’t feel like watching an actor.” Mazin must have felt the same jolt: “If we didn’t cast Bella, I’d never forgive myself.” That’s how strongly these two argued for her.
The clincher? A chemistry read with Pedro Pascal, our beloved Joel. They tossed around magazine banter (you know that scene, right?) and the crew basically called casting complete on the spot.
The Jitters: Fame and Facing the Fan Horde
But acceptance didn’t come easily, not even for Bella herself. She nearly turned the whole thing down. Teen Vogue got the story—Bella thought about ducking out, wary about the tidal wave of attention. She’d just come out as non-binary. Was she up for another round of internet storm-chasing, this time from millions of PlayStation diehards?
A letter from Druckmann calmed her. “We don’t want your Lyanna Mormont. We want your Ellie.” That did the trick. She took the leap, and soon, diagnosis of autism during filming helped Bella find connection with Ellie’s restless, hyper-focused mind. That was a surprise Bella didn’t see coming, but it proved as much a strength as any sword in Westeros.
Training Days: Not Just Dodging Fungi
If you thought playing Ellie was just a matter of mouthing lines and slinging insults, think again. Bella went all-in.
- Six weeks of training: boxing, jiu-jitsu, and some vicious archery. Stunt guys, beware—a teenager just clocked you.
- Daily accent drills: reciting SpongeBob lines while jumping rope. Hey, whatever locks in the Oklahoma twang.
- She watched hours of game cutscenes but never played start-to-finish. That kept her Ellie fresh—respecting, but never cloning, Ashley Johnson’s iconic voice work.
- Guitar crash course, too. Bella learned Pearl Jam’s “Future Days” and ended up playing live before take in the season finale flashback.
Don’t sleep on the spores, either! She even tagged along to a real mycology lab in Alberta. That way, when crew unleashed another storm of fungal prop dust, Bella could roll with it, calling the effect “not as silly anymore.”
Navigating the Online Wilds
Now, about those fans. When news broke that Bella would play Ellie, social media split like a raider’s skull. Twitter hosted a meltdown—“she doesn’t look like Ellie!”—and the vitriol caught Bella off guard. She took a break from Twitter. Besides, as she told GameSpot, it was her “first real internet punch.” Her agent locked her accounts, but Bella snuck looks anyway.
She saw the backlash, but also noticed fan art blending her face into the digital Ellie. Once the show premiered, things got interesting. Critics went wild—99% on RottenTomatoes for the pilot week. Sentiment soared on ListenFirst: positive chatter doubled, neutral dropped right off a cliff. By Episode 3, #EllieLives was trending—and the joke book scene won over even the toughest keyboard warriors.
Still, haters gun for her now and then. A blog reignited the “worst casting ever?” debate last spring, and Bella just posted a selfie, blood-spattered hoodie and all, captioned: “still here.” Instant legend. One million hearts, no filter.
Ellie and Joel: Chemistry That Clicks
No Ellie is complete without her battered, grieving dad-figure. Pedro Pascal and Bella clicked fast. They shared bitter-cold Canadian nights and, for a year, became each other’s lifelines on set. Wordle duels, hot chocolate bets, and improv games bled right into camera magic.
Pedro says, “For a year, it was the two of us clinging to each other.” You can tell. The banter? The pain? All real. The giraffe moment—filmed with a monstrous animatronic and VFX for the world outside—ended with Bella in real tears, forcing the crew into a group “feelings break.”
As Season 2 pushes forward, their dynamic changes. Less screen time with Joel means more focus on Ellie’s personal struggle, but, as Bella quipped, “like handing over a microphone in karaoke—you still harmonize.”
Getting Under Ellie’s Skin: Trauma, Love, and All the Mess Between
Season 1 didn’t go easy. Bella dove deep. For the harrowing “Left Behind” flashbacks with Storm Reid’s Riley, the actresses spent a whole weekend after-hours at the West Edmonton Mall, riding carousels at 2 a.m. Bella journaled as Ellie, imagining unsent letters to Riley. Right in the middle of wasteland chaos, a tender, glowing moment shone through—a teenage girl, in love, under flickering neon.
After the Episode 9 bathroom breakdown, Bella created her own sensory overload with squats and ice-cold water in her shoes. She needed to match Ellie’s shock after the David fight. Autism diagnosis in the middle of the shoot actually helped—the sensory chaos, the bottled rage, and the need for control. For viewers, the results felt raw.
And then there’s representation. Bella’s non-binary identity fit perfectly with Ellie’s tomboy fluidity. Fans exploded TikTok views, pairing Bella’s behind-the-scenes binder photos with game concept art—over three million views overnight. She’s not just playing the part; she’s living it.
Breaking Out After Bear Island
Game of Thrones made Bella a global name, even if she only graced nine scenes. But here? She’s no typecast. Between seasons, Bella tackled everything from the indie film “Catherine Called Birdy” to animated hens in “Chicken Run 2.” She even braved the London stage in “An Inspector Calls.”
Every tool she picks up—archery, ASL for a key deaf character in Season 2, horseback riding—she learns for Ellie but keeps in her personal arsenal. Can she hit a bullseye at 30 meters? Olympic archer Crispin Duenas says yes. Her guitar teacher? Impressed enough to let her play live during takes.
And rewards keep rolling in. Critics’ Choice win, Saturn Award speech—“for every weird kid with a pocketknife and a pun book”—and an Emmy nom beside Zendaya. Not bad for a Yorkshire farm kid.
Behind the Scenes: Sunrise Squeak and A Silo Full of Spores
The show’s scale would terrify anyone. Season 1 spread across Alberta for a whole year. Bella whistled ‘Riptide’ at sunrise, earning the nickname “Sunshine Squeak” on set.
COVID rules hung around; Bella managed a streak of negative tests—never missed a day. Season 2 shifted to Vancouver and new coastal wilderness. That brings more mature and ferocious Ellie—aged up, muscled, drawing heavier bows.
Off-camera, HBO pushes tie-ins hard, like Nike’s Ellie Edition sneakers. Bella pops Ollies in the skate park for commercials, shaping the apocalypse into a marketing playground.
Where the Road Leads—No Brakes on This Ride
Now, we see Ellie at nineteen. Bella hit the gym, jumped into archery, and tuned up her guitar game. She’s ready for every vengeance-fueled beat Season 2 fires at her. Test audiences call her “feral, frightening, perfect.” And yes, IGN polled the haters: most are rooting for her. A few stubborn trolls just can’t quit the drama.
For fans, Ellie’s fate means everything. Bella herself says she’ll stick around “as long as Ellie breathes.” Season 2 ends on a gut-wrenching cliffhanger—theatre showdown, zero spoilers here. But Bella’s already hinting at “tissues for next year.” And Season 3 sits green-lit, prepped for another round of chaos, heartbreak, and fungus.
One Last Thought: Why No Cure Works Here
Maybe that’s the secret—Bella Ramsey lives Ellie from the inside out. The pain, the smirk, the stubborn hope. She weathered backlash, killed it in awards season, and kicked in doors for queer, neurodiverse kids watching TV for the first time and finally seeing themselves.
The road goes ever on, but for now, one thing’s crystal clear: Ellie lives. And Bella made sure we’ll follow—through spores, storms, and whatever heartbreak the Fireflies throw her way.
