Game of Thrones star Bella Ramsey says that HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation is the biggest show she’s ever done. Ramsey is best known for her breakout role as Lyanna Mormont in HBO’s fantasy series Game of Thrones. Back in February, it was announced that the 17-year-old actress had been cast as Ellie in HBO’s The Last of Us, based on Naughty Dog’s award-winning video game franchise.
In addition to Ramsey, The Last of Us will star fellow Game of Thrones alum Pedro Pascal as Joel Miller, Nico Parker as Joel’s daughter, Sarah, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, and Merle Dandridge, who reprises her role of Marlene from the games. Co-president of Naughty Dog Neil Druckmann is executive producing and co-writing The Last of Us alongside Craig Mazin (Chernobyl). Season 1 will consist of 10 episodes and adapt the events of the original The Last of Us (2013), following Joel and Ellie as they make their way across a country ravaged by the infected. The series is being filmed in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is expected to release sometime next year.
In a recent interview with the BBC, Ramsey talked about the pressures of becoming a beloved character like Ellie in a huge production. Despite her experience working on Game of Thrones and Dark Materials, Ramsey said that The Last of Us might be the biggest show she’s ever done. Read what she had to say below:
"It [The Last of Us] does definitely feel like the biggest thing I have done and I have to not think about that too much as it freaks me out a little bit. When I got over here I had two weeks' quarantine alone with my thoughts and I had to not think about the scale of it...Game of Thrones was the first thing I ever did and that was HBO. The same exec Carolyn Strauss on that is also producing this, so it feels like it's come full circle - it's really nice.”
Based on leaked set photos, which revealed the Boston Quarantine Zone and Texas during the outbreak, first looks at Pascal’s Joel, Ramsey’s Ellie, and Tory’s Tess crossing a deserted city, The Last of Us’ production truly looks to capture the spirit and aesthetic of the games. While the show’s pilot will presumably cover the events of the outbreak in Texas, the majority of the series will take place twenty years later, picking up with Joel and Tess in the Boston Quarantine Zone before getting involved with Marlene and meeting Ellie.
The Last of Us has a reported eight-figure budget per episode. This makes it one of the most expensive productions currently filming in Canada. That may not sound like much compared to the $10 million budget of Game of Thrones’ final season. However, for Ramsey, who is working in a variety of overhauled locations, and whose profile will grow exponentially upon release, it likely feels just as big if not bigger. On top of that, The Last of Us is one of the most beloved games of the 21st century, puts a lot of pressure on the series to honor familiar characters and locations while introducing new ones, especially in the wake of the very divisive The Last of Us Part II.
Source: BBC