The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey has revealed that they’ve finally started playing the video game which the hit HBO series was based on.
In an interview last year, Ramsey [who plays Ellie in HBO’s The Last Of Us] revealed that they were “encouraged” not to play the iconic video game.
“After my first audition, they asked me, ‘Have you played it?’ And I said, ‘Nope,’ and they said, ‘Keep it that way’,” they told USA Today.
In a new interview with Josh Horowitz’ Happy Sad Confused Podcast though, Ramsey revealed that they had begun playing it shortly after the first episode of The Last Of Us was released.
“I actually started playing it two weeks ago,” Ramsey said. “I had watched some of the gameplay, even before they asked me not to play it. Before the audition and stuff, I watched some of the gameplay, so I was aware of it and familiar with it but I’d never sat down and been Joel and Ellie.”
“I’ve not got to the bit where Ellie comes in,” continued Ramsey, admitting that they haven’t played it for a week. “It’s actually not as weird as I thought it would be,” they continued. “I just need to get on with it. I get in a room, I look at all the details and I’m just wandering around. Then I end up getting lost. I just need to go forward and get to the point.”
So much THE LAST OF US goodness in my 40 minute chat with @BellaRamsey for #HappySadConfused! Here's Bella on how she got the role and the reveal that she's finally started playing the game!
Watch our full chat here: https://t.co/AC6cnWP3zA pic.twitter.com/wvzpiYjTlO
— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) February 2, 2023
Their co-star Pedro Pascal revealed earlier this year that he too had been instructed not to play The Last Of Us, but didn’t listen. “Their instruction was: Don’t play the game. I ignored them,” Pascal told Wired. “I tried to play the game, and I was very, very bad at it. (But my nephew was fantastic.) It was important to me to play notes that were directly related to what was originally in the game—physically, visually, vocally,” he added.
In an interview with GQ last year, Pascal spoke about wanting to create “a healthy distance” from the game with his interpretation of Joel. “I got worried that I would want to imitate too much, which I think could be right in some circumstances, and then a mistake in others,” he continued, adding that he left that up to creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann.
Earlier this week, The Last Of Us star Nick Offerman revealed he hasn’t actually played a video game in over 25 years, due to a short-lived obsession with Banjo-Kazooie.
In other news, Bandai Namco Nordics has announced an event to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Elden Ring, sparking a new conversation about downloadable content.
The post Bella Ramsey has finally started playing ‘The Last Of Us’ appeared first on NME.
