2 weeks Ago By Brad Norton
HBO’s The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey has revealed they deactivated their social media accounts before Season 2 premiered, as to avoid expected backlash. HBO’s adaptation of Naughty Dog’s masterful video games has been a staggering success in terms of both critical reception and viewership accomplishments. With Season 2 now underway, we’re glued to our screens once again, labelling it a “powerful” recreation that’ll leave you distraught.
Leading the charge as Ellie in this live-action version is Bella Ramsey. Having played the younger version of the character throughout Season 1, the English actor was largely praised for their work. This time around, however, with a more aged-up version of Ellie to portray, there’s been plenty of vitriol across social media in relation to Ramsey’s physical appearance.
As it turns out, the 21-year-old was acutely aware this conversation was coming. Not only was it a point they “fixated” on in the lead-up to production, training intensely to alter their stature, but it was something they looked to avoid altogether by stepping away from social media. Bella Ramsey was “fixated” on Ellie’s appearance in The Last of Us Season 2 Filming for Season 2 was described as a “very difficult year” by Ramsey “in many, many ways,” as she recounted in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter .
Ramsey underwent “intensive physical training” that ranged from combat sports like boxing and jiu-jitsu, to targeting muscle groups in the gym with weight training. Even once filming began, it’s reported Ramsey would be tirelessly working between shoots. When not in front of the camera, they’d be “stunt training.
” This largely came as a result of their ‘fixation’ to look the part, Ramsey admitting they didn’t match up quite as similarly for the age-up version of the character. “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,” Ramsey said. “I didn’t look like that.
My body type isn’t that.” Showrunner Craig Mazin “never put that expectation” on Ramsey, they stressed, but it was still a mental “challenge” to overcome, to stop comparing themselves to a “computer-generated” model. Related The Last of Us Season 2 game change makes Episode 3 trailer more devastating In the lead-up to Season 2’s release, Ramsey moved away from the internet.
They deactivated their social media accounts, in some capacity, to avoid any conversations around their appearance in the latest batch of episodes. While it’s something they’d had in mind for quite some time, even claiming they “never really wanted to have social media in the first place,” the time was ultimately right to get off social media networks. “It wasn’t like this big dramatic thing, but there was an element of it that was thinking about the show coming out for Season 2.
If I just avoid Twitter and Reddit, which now I’m doing, then everything’s totally fine.” Of course, anyone involved in The Last of Us is aware of just how extreme ‘fans’ can be online. Abby’s original actor in the video game, Laura Bailey, was subjected to immense toxicity, with death threats even targeting her newborn child .
Clearly, Ramsey was wise to get ahead of it all in this instance..
