Bella Ramsey (Ellie) encouraged not to play The Last of Us game

House of the Dragon, HBO’s hugely successful Game of Thrones prequel series, ends in just a couple weeks. But the network has more polished genre series on the way. Next year, they will debut The Last of Us, an adaptation of the acclaimed video game from Naughty Dog.

The Last of Us is about a zombie apocalypse, which may be the most overdone premise in media. But the game distinguishes itself by focusing on its rich, layered characters, especially hardened survivor Joel (Pedro Pascal) and teenage girl Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who shows resistance to the plague that’s devastated humanity. Joel must escort Ellie across a zombie-ridden United States to get her to a group of scientists who can use her gift to create a cure. That forms the spine of the story.

Ramsey, at least, has not played the game, and was actually encouraged not to by the producers. “After my first audition, they asked me, ‘Have you played it?’ And I said ‘nope’, and they said, ‘Keep it that way,'” she told USA Today. “I did watch some of the gameplay on YouTube just to get a sense of it.”

"But I’m so excited for it to come out – it was such a big part of my life. I shot for a whole year, which is quite a long time when you’ve only lived for 19 years."

HBO spent a huge amount of time shooting The Last of Us, so they have big plans for this one. Ramsey was already beloved by Game of Thrones fans for her turn as Lyanna Mormont, but this could make her a bonafide star.

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey bond on the set of The Last of Us

On the other hand, Pedro Pascal is already very well-established, but The Last of Us will be his first lead role where he doesn’t wear a helmet over his face most of the time, which means more exposure. “Pedro wrote a little card to me at the end, saying, ‘How interesting that something so huge and life-changing should happen so early in your life and so late in mine’. I thought it was a really sweet observation and I just had the best time,” Ramsey shared.

The Last of Us comes out on HBO and HBO Max sometime in 2023.

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h/t Eurogamer