I wish these Last of Us fans would be honest about why they don't want Bella Ramsey

The second season of The Last of Us premieres tonight on HBO and Max. Pedro Pascal will return as Joel, a hardened survivor of the zombie apocalypse whose heart grew three sizes when he met Ellie, the only person in the world immune to the zombie plague. Ellie is played by Bella Ramsey, who received an Emmy nomination for their performance in season 1. You'd figure everyone would be exctied to see what Ramsey could bring in season 2, right?

For the most part, yes, but there's a certain contingent of fans online who don't think Ramsey is right for the part, and they're very vocal about it. "HBO can’t be serious bro," writes one fan on X over a picture of Ellie from season 2. "Is HBO deadass man.. WTF is this," asks another, to 129k likes.

Because there's apparently some confusion, I'll try to clear things up: this is a picture of Ellie, who's known to have a bit of a violent temper, pointing a gun at the camera. Is she aiming at a zombie? At a human being who's done her wrong? Knowing Ellie, it could be either.

I think most people would look at this picture and not think much of it. "WTF is this"? It's a character in a TV show doing something, I dunno, watch and find out. But if you read the replies, a lot of people seem outraged. They post cartoons of deformed faces, someone calls it the "worst casting of the 2020s I can think of" to the tune of of 5.3k likes, another wonders if HBO is purposefully trying to "tank" the show, etc.

Again, I think most normal people would see this kind of discourse and be lost. What in the world could folks find so offensive about a picture of an actor acting? I think it's simple: the people who are so aghast don't think Ramsey is physically attractive, and they believe in their bones that this means Ramsey shouldn't be on their TV screens. I don't know what other conclusion to draw based on the insults, the freak-outs, the caricatures, the tweets suggesting that other more conventionally attractive people should have gotten the role instead. Bella Ramsey has been up front about being told they don't have the "Hollywood look." A lot of fans apparently agree, and it's breaking their brains.

Some of these fans offer up justifications for their distaste. It's not that they find Bella Ramsey unattractive, they say, it's that Ramsey doesn't look like Ellie does in The Last of Us video games. Another common complaint is that Ramsey looks too young for the part.

These are both smokescreens. Of course Bella Ramsey doesn't look exactly like Ellie from the games. This is a new version of the story with a new cast; no one looks like they do in the games, because they're played by different people. Pedro Pascal doesn't look a ton like Joel from the games, but he's been spared from the backlash Bella Ramsey is getting, I assume because he's more photogenic. As for Ramsey looking too young, Ellie is 19 years old at this point in the story, and Ramsey was around 20 when they filmed the new season. I don't know what to tell these people: Ramsey is at the exact right age. Some people look older or younger than their age. Maybe Ramsey looks a little younger. But they're literally the same age as Ellie, so you can rest assured that they can play someone of that age.

"Recast may have been needed," opines someone who thinks the right move would have been to get rid of the actor who already earned an Emmy nomination for playing Ellie and replace them with a completely new performer. That, this person thinks, would have been the least confusing way to proceed with this show that was watched by an average of 32 million people each week in its first season. That tweet got 11k likes.

We are all lizard-brained monkey people together

Human beings are hard-wired to respond well to people we find physically attractive. There are studies on this; hot people literally get convicted and jailed for crimes at a lower rate than other people, on account of their hotness. We like looking at hot people. It's a universal thing.

So I actually don't blame folks if they look at Bella Ramsey's face and don't like what they see. Your response is your response; you have no control over that. But you do have control over what you do next. It is within people's power to have a gut-level reaction to Bella Ramsey's face, acknowledge it for what it is, and then realize that it has no bearing on whether Ramsey can play a revenge-fueled survivor who fights zombies. If you want to look at people you think are hot, the internet is right there. The Last of Us can just be a story about characters; it's okay, it can't hurt you.

What's dispiriting about the wave of looks-based backlash against Ramsey is how many of the people involved seem to have zero self-awareness about what they're doing and why. So you don't find Bella Ramsey attractive. Okay, fine. Good news: you don't need to find them attractive to be compelled by their performance in this zombie show. Problem solved.

I think what would most help prevent embarrassing backlashes like this is to revamp our culture and education system with an aim towards helping people think more critically, and to parse out the differences between an irrational, lizard-brain response on the one hand and a reasoned argument on the other. But that's probably beyond the scope of an article about why it's cringey to mock Bella Ramsey for their looks.

It must also be said that there are tons of fans pushing against this backlash. And there are a ton more who blessedly haven't heard of it all. Everything is set up for The Last of Us season 2 to be as big a hit as season 1, which will be vindication for anyone annoyed by this.

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