Everyone who watched HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us walked away with the same thought: Bella Ramsey is an undeniable star.
The 19-year-old British actor has already been in the industry for nearly a decade, first gracing our screens as the precocious Lyanna Marmont on Game of Thrones at just 11 years old. Since then, they’ve also starred in the period TV drama Becoming Elizabeth and in Lena Dunham’s 2022 comedy Catherine Called Birdy.
But Ramsey’s real star-making role came earlier this year, when they starred in The Last of Us, a TV adaptation of the acclaimed video game series of the same name. Alongside their co-star (and the internet’s favorite daddy) Pedro Pascal, Ramsey played Ellie, a snarky teenager who might hold the cure to a fungal infection that brought on the apocalypse.
When Ramsey’s casting was announced, not all fans of the video game series were pleased. Ramsey didn’t look exactly like the version of Ellie from the game, leading trolls to insult their appearance and bully them online. Ramsey has said the backlash was hard to deal with at first, but ultimately, they’re grateful for the opportunity to be a role model.
“I’ve had people message me and say that it’s helped people come to terms with who they are,” they told W Magazine. “That’s been really nice to hear as well. I guess I just want to be authentic.”
That authenticity is on full display in The Last of Us: beyond being a compelling and terrifying masterpiece of television, the show happens to be fabulously gay. Its third episode, which features a decades-long love story between Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, has been hailed as one of the greatest in the history of television (Ramsey themself praised the episode, telling GQ they were “on the verge of tears throughout it”). And a flashback episode for Ellie revealed her heartbreaking crush and romance with a best friend played by Euphoria’s Storm Reid.
Though most fans adored these storylines, which expanded on material already in the video games, a vocal minority complained that the show was going “woke” and review-bombed the episodes on IMDb. Ramsey didn’t care — if homophobes didn’t want to watch, it was their loss, they said.
“I know people will think what they want to think. But they’re gonna have to get used to it. If you don’t want to watch the show because it has gay storylines, because it has a trans character, that’s on you, and you’re missing out,” Ramsey told GQ. “It isn’t gonna make me afraid. I think that comes from a place of defiance.”
Ramsey has been on their own journey with queerness alongside their character. In January, they told the New York Times that they identify as nonbinary. “I guess my gender has always been very fluid,” they said. “Someone would call me ‘she’ or ‘her’ and I wouldn’t think about it, but I knew that if someone called me ‘he’ it was a bit exciting.” As far as pronouns, Ramsey said they “couldn’t care less.”
“I’m very much just a person,” Ramsey said. “Being gendered isn’t something that I particularly like.”
Ramsey reaffirmed their nonbinary identity on Trans Day of Visibility this year with a tweet sending love to the trans community.
“Happy TDOV to this little dude!” Ramsey wrote, referring to a picture of themself as a child. “I didn’t know the word non-binary in this picture. But I knew what it meant. Inherently. Because I always was, and always will be. Lotsa love to all of my trans, enby and gender funky friends.”
The Last of Us has already been renewed for season two, which (if it continues to be faithful to its source material) promises even more queer storylines with an aged-up Ellie being in a relationship with another woman, Dina, and the introduction of trans character Lev. Ramsey says they can’t wait to keep telling the story — and we can’t wait to keep watching their career.
“Signing on to a series is such a risk, because if I hate this, then I’m potentially tied into it for years, and I didn’t want to be tied into something I didn’t enjoy,” Ramsey told GQ. “But I would honestly do this for years.”
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