A Different ‘Game of Thrones’ Actor Was Almost Ellie in ‘The Last of Us’
The Last of Us is the first big prestige TV show of 2023. HBO‘s adaptation of the beloved video game franchise was a highly sought-after project for many actors, especially young women hoping to take on the role of Ellie, one of the story’s two leads. Bella Ramsey of Game of Thrones fame earned the part amid plenty of competition, which included one of her former castmates on GOT.
Ramsey was delighted to join the show. However, she has also had to deal with the sadly inevitable toxicity from a segment of the Last of Us fan base who have preconceived notions and an inflated sense of ownership over these characters.
Ramsey is a star on the rise
Bella Ramsey was introduced to the world as Lady Lyanna Mormont in Season 6 of Game of Thrones. According to The Hollywood Reporter in a preview piece about The Last of Us, the English actor was only supposed to be in Westeros for one scene. However, Ramsey, who made her professional acting debut in the show as an 11-year-old, was so dynamic on screen that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss reworked the show to bring Lyanna back for the final two seasons.
After the show ended, Ramsey joined up with another HBO adaptation of a series of fantasy novels. She played Angelica in Season 2 of His Dark Materials. She also provides the voice for the titular character in the Netflix animated series Hilda and the spinoff movie Hilda and the Mountain King.
Ramsey’s last significant role was as the lead in the Lena Dunham-directed medieval comedy Catherine Called Birdy. The movie was praised as one of last year’s overlooked gems, mainly because of Ramsey’s excellent performance.
Another ‘Game of Thrones’ star was one of many interested in ‘The Last of Us’
Ellie is a complex character who goes through several emotional shifts in the narrative of The Last of Us. She’s tough and clever enough to survive in an apocalypse but still displays the neediness and naivety inherent in childhood. The depth of her storyline makes her a memorable video game character and someone many actors would love to portray in the TV version.
Finding the right person for the role was tough for The Last of Us showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. (Druckmann was also the creative director and writer of the original video game and co-wrote its sequel, The Last of Us Part II.) Druckmann told The Hollywood Reporter that they considered “dozens and dozens” of potential Ellies, including former Game of Thrones alum Maisie Williams, who spoke to Druckmann about the part when it was still being thought of as a movie adaptation that would be directed by Sam Raimi. Booksmart’s Kaitlyn Dever was also in the running and did a table read for the project.
By the time HBO was ready to turn The Last of Us into a show, many candidates were too old to be Ellie (she is 14 in the game), so they had to start their search again. Bella Ramsey was such a convincing choice that she went from auditioning for the role to securing it in less than a month. “It was like Ellie realized in live action,” Druckmann recalled. “It didn’t feel like watching an actor.”
Negative reactions to Ramsey’s casting led to a crisis of confidence
His work protecting Grogu on The Mandalorian made it easier for producers to land on Pedro Pascal as the choice for Joel. Despite the actor’s pedigree, his casting was controversial to some fans because of his inability to grow a beard in the vein of the character. (Yes, really.)
Pascal was able to shrug off the complaints with ease, but when the trolls came for Bella Ramsey, she was unable to look past the negative comments and remain unbothered.
She admits in the THR article that she considered not doing The Last of Us at all because “I like to blend in and hide” and was wary of the fame that would come with a show of this magnitude. Ramsey had previously left the TV adaptation of The Worst Witch series, for which she won the Young Performer award at the 2019 British Academy Children’s Awards, in 2020 due to mental health issues before its final season. Ramsey was only 17 when filming of The Last of Us began. By the time she arrived on set in Alberta, Canada, Ramsey, who also had to spend two weeks alone in COVID quarantine before shooting started, was fully enveloped by imposter syndrome.
“What am I doing here, you’ve chosen the wrong person’ — all of that goes around in your head,” she remembers thinking.
Ramsey eventually forced herself to stop looking at the comments and focus on her passion for a character she earned the right to portray. “Ellie felt like a character I already had in me,” she said. “Like the skins that you wear in a video game? She was one of my skins already.”
