The Last of Us Star Bella Ramsey Speaks Out on Importance of Queer Storytelling in HBO Series

By Nathaniel Brail

HBO released the first season of The Last of Us, and it did some pretty big numbers. The Last of Us quickly became the second-best premiere for the network in the past ten years and was just as swiftly picked up for a second season. Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann co-created the series for HBO, and we see a lot of things that the video game franchise didn't do, like put a major spotlight on Ellie's (Bella Ramsey's) sexuality. Ramsey recently did an interview with L'Official, where they spoke on the importance of queer storytelling.

"I definitely connected with it and it was really exciting to me. I remember the character description that came through in the initial email about Ellie. Part of what Craig wrote in her description was that 'she's gay and she doesn't care,' or I think the actual words were 'doesn't give a fuck what you think.' I just loved that from the get-go," Ramsey said. "It was really nice to have two really queer episodes. Like, gay people exist, so why shouldn't they exist in the apocalypse? I really liked that it didn't feel tacked on. It was so integral to this story, and so organically done, that it didn't feel like, Oh, we're just putting in these queer people for representation. This is the story, and it's just a story of two people loving each other, and it was really beautiful."

Mazin, the Emmy-winning creator of HBO's Chernobyl, produced The Last of Us alongside Druckmann, the creator behind the hit video game series. In an interview earlier this year, the writer said The Last of Us is the "greatest" video game story ever told. "It's an open-and-shut case: this is the greatest story that has ever been told in video games," Mazin said in an interview with Empire Magazine. "[Joel and Ellie] didn't shoot anything out of their eyeballs. They were just people. And that, in and of itself, is remarkably rare in games. The fact that they kept it so grounded, and really made you feel – I had never experienced anything like it, and I've been playing video games since 1977."

Joining Pascal (Joel) and Ramsey (Ellie) include Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, and Elaine Miles as Florence. Original game stars Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, having played the part of Ellie and Joel in both video games, are also set to appear.

All episodes of The Last of Us are now streaming on HBO Max. The show's first season is set to last nine episodes in total with new episodes rolling out on a weekly basis.

What do you think about Bella Ramsey's comments? Did you like The Last of Us Season 1? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!

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