With only two new episodes of HBO’s hit series The Last of Us out, Bella Ramsey has already shown that they are fully capable of the emotional range this season requires. Getting into physical shape, however, proved to be its own emotional battle, Ramsey shared in a recent interview.
In the second season, Ramsey once again takes on the role of Ellie Williams, one of the hardened survivors in this post-apocalyptic world, but this is no simple reprisal. The new season takes place five years after the first.
In video games, like the one on which the series is based, a time skip is a simple matter of digital effects. But in real life, Ramsey had to get into shape to embody an older Ellie. Earlier this month, videos of Ramsey training in jiu-jitsu made the rounds on social media.
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There were obvious limits to how much physical change Ramsey could undergo between seasons. But the goal, according to a new profile in The Hollywood Reporter, wasn’t to affect an impossible age jump. It was to embody the more reckless and brutal version of Ellie we encounter this season.
Still, Ramsey found they couldn’t help comparing themself to their digital counterpart. “It was cool to feel really … capable,” Ramsey said. “But I got quite fixated on the way that Ellie looks in the game and her physical stature and, to be specific, the muscle definition in her arms. And I didn’t look like that. My body type isn’t that.”
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Showrunner Craig Mazin was clear that the purpose of physical training was confidence, not matching the body type of a video game. “I talked about this a lot with Craig, and he never put that expectation on me,” Ramsey continued.
“He wanted me to look strong and feel strong, and that was in how I carried myself, my posture and the confidence you have. It was a challenge for me to let myself off the hook for not looking computer-generated.”
For Mazin, Ramsey was already the perfect Ellie long before they started intensive training. “I’m not interested in the physical aspect,” he said, “I’m interested in the emotional maturity and the change in personality.
“I’ve watched Bella grow and start to find her own two feet. … And I feel that in Ellie completely.”
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