The second season of The Last of Us, based on Naughty Dog's popular video game series, premieres on HBO this Sunday. The first season followed Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they ventured across a post-apocalyptic United States, finally settling in the relatively peaceful town of Jackson, Wyoming. Ellie was 14 years old in the first season. The second season will jump five years ahead, so she'll be 19.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, some fans on social media have been complaining that Ramsey isn't a good fit for Ellie "because they’re not big and strong enough to be that character" after the story jumps ahead in time. At 5'1", Ramsey is indeed on the shorter side, but I can't say I understand the argument. Neither does showrunner Craig Mazin.
"One of the reasons why we show a fight scene early is to address what I think is a question that gets glossed over all the time by action movies and shows. How does a small person fight with a big person?" Mazin told THR. "It’s not going to be karate. It’s not going to be awesome punches and kicks — they’ll lose. The answer is Juujitsu. I watch a lot of jiujitsu and I’ve specifically watched sessions where a small person is taking down a big person. That’s how that would happen because nobody’s fucking around in this world."
"So I understand the difficulty that some people have where they say, 'She looked like she was 14 in season one. She still looks roughly the same to us, even though now she’s 19.' Ellie in the game looks much older. Some people do change quite dramatically and some people don’t. I’m not interested in the physical aspect — although I’ve been looking at Bella’s face for years while editing, and I can see that she’s certainly grown. I’m interested in the emotional maturity, and the change in personality. I’ve watched Bella grow and become independent and start to find her own two feet separate and apart from her parents, who are amazing — How do I figure out how to be my own person now and test that full independence? And I feel that in Ellie completely. So I understand where people are coming from, but when they watch this year, I think they’re going to see the difference."
I don't understand the difficulty some people have. Lemme see if I can sort this out in my head. So the complaint is that Bella Ramsey, who is currently 21 years old, doesn't look big and strong enough to play Ellie, who is 19 during the events of The Last of Us Part II. I played The Last of Us Part II, and while Ellie never struck me as tiny, she's not a behemoth either. She looks more or less like an ordinary person. Bella Ramsey is shorter than the average woman in the U.S. (which is 5.3 inches, FYI), but not so short that you're going to accidentally step on them or anything. Seems well within normal range.
I, personally, have no trouble buying Bella Ramsey as a 19-year-old. After all, Ramsey would have been around 20 when they filmed The Last of Us season 2. Everything checks out. And if people are worried Ramsey won't be able to pull off the action scenes...well, first of all, we've seen the season already and can assure you there's nothing to worry about on that score. Also, Ellie in the game was also smaller than a lot of her opponents, because she fought a lot of men and woman are smaller than men on average. The same thing applies to the show. I don't think there's a problem here.
Also, Hollywood types know how to shoot people of all shapes and sizes to make them look formidable. Tom Cruise stands at 5'7", a couple inches shorter than the height of the average man in the U.S., and yet he's built his reputation on being a major movie tough guy action star.
With that in mind, Mazin and company were careful when casting the part of Dina, Ellie's love interest this season. She'll be played by Isabela Merced, who also stands at 5'1". “We wanted somebody that was this contrast, this sunlight, because Ellie is tough and reserved and careful, and we wanted somebody who is radiating sun,” Mazin said. “We also didn’t want somebody that was 5’9″, because Bella is pretty short. It’s one of those things where it gets a little wonky to frame [two actors of very different height], or Dina might feel maternal, like a mom.”
The season 2 premiere of The Last of Us airs on HBO and Max this upcoming Sunday, April 13.
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