The Last of Us Star Bella Ramsey Speaks Out on Ellie’s Shocking Episode 8 Scenes (Exclusive)

The penultimate episode of The Last of Us‘ first season has come and gone, giving viewers one of the most shocking sequences of the series yet. At the root of the suspense was Bella Ramsey’s Ellie, who went to great lengths in trying to keep Joel (Pedro Pascal) alive. Ramsey appeared on this week’s The Last of Pods episode, breaking down the character’s bloody kills in The Last of Us Episode 8. Full spoilers up ahead for the latest episode of The Last of Us! Proceed with caution if you’ve yet to watch.

“It’s definitely a shift. She’s experienced traumas before, but this is nothing that she’s ever experienced,” Ramsey says of her character’s actions the the latest episode. “Of all the things that could’ve gone wrong in this world, all the time she could’ve died up until now, she did not anticipate this.”

In the episode, Ellie accidentally crosses paths with David (Scott Shepherd) and James (Troy Baker). The end result is a bloody one, with David and James being bludgeoned to death by the young adventurer.

“I think she is also scared not only of what happened with David, and what he was going to do to her, but she’s also I think maybe more afraid of what she did to him,” Ramsey adds. “And that violence that lives within her, I don’t think that she’s… We see het, dhe punched Bethany in the face in the last episode, and we’ve seen her be violent, but not like this. And I think that scares her, what she’s capable of.”

What has Ellie learned from Joel in The Last of Us?

Ramsey says she’s learned a lot from Joel throughout the season, including the moment she witnessed him kill a FEDRA agent at the beginning of the season.

“It’s like seeing someone be so violent for her, it’s like she secretly loves it. I certainly think it’s a secret. And so then, it’s the full circle of now, she’s replicating that essentially. Replicating Joel’s actions,” she continues. “She killed David probably within the first two hacks of the ax to his face, and she just kept going, and kept going, and kept going, and it felt good. In the same way that when Joel was beating that guy to death, it was like he didn’t have to do that. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s a lot.”

For more Last of Us content, check out ComicBook and Entertainment Tonight’s new podcast: The Last of Pods. The podcast will include breakdowns of each episode, interviews with special guests from the show, and more. The Last of Us airs on HBO and HBO Max at 9 p.m. Eastern every Sunday with The Last of Pods debuting immediately following each show.