For Bella Ramsey, the real pressure is to play the leadership role in the second season of “Our Last”. But this is not entirely spiritual. Difficulties come from almost every scene, without the unity of co-star Pedro Pascal, whose character Joel is brutally murdered in episode 2.
“I do feel like, 'Well, I'm here every day for the next seven months, and it's so tired,” Ramsey said. “But I love the hard things. Doing the hard things is the way I feel satisfied and satisfied.”
Season 2 sees Ramsey embodying a stubborn young woman, Ellie, living in post-realistic reality in a more mature way. The second time it was slipped into her skin was “very familiar”. Ramsey solves new skills, including extensive stunt training and some guitar lessons, but usually they rely on their instincts to find Ellie's emotional state. “The way she thinks, moves, talks, behaves and behaves is almost second nature because of how long I have lived with her,” Ramsey said. “She feels like I'm easy to get in touch.”
Ellie’s emerging relationship with Dina (Isabela Merced) is key to understanding character evolution. After Joel was murdered, the newly cast couple went from Jackson, Wyo to Seattle. “I said with all my love for Ellie, but she was selfish,” Ramsey said. “But then she had these moments, ‘Wait, it’s not just me.’ She was forced to get rid of her inherent selfishness because of love.
Bella Ramsey plays Ellie in “Our Last Man”.
(Liane Hentscher / HBO)
Pascal and Dever had a short period of production in Canada last year. Ramsey said they “denied” Pascal's exit rather than “because I felt that he had no influence there.” It was a crucial experience to film Ellie walking in, like Abby piercing Joel with a broken golf club.
“Before that scene, I was really trying to get a lot of my energy to be able to do that,” Ramsey said. “I was dancing and hype. When we really did that, I had to live a little bit of it… At the end of the day, you feel that tired satisfaction and catharsis. But it's so bad to see his little face on the ground. I'll never forget it.”
Not too scary is Episode 6, which is a flashback to the relationship between Ellie and Joel before their death. Ramsey described shooting with director Neil Druckmann, who also created the video game, which is “happy.” Several scenes are remakes of the “The Last Part Two” filming, including Joel taking Ellie to an overgrown space museum. But even if it’s copied such an iconic scene, Ramsey never tried to imitate the character’s game version.
“I just achieved it by understanding Ellie,” they said. “I've seen the gameplay and what I tend to happen is if I look at someone like Ellie exists, I accidentally adopt these behaviors. But, that's not something I do consciously. I just know Ellie is me.”
Although Ramsey was ready with the London Stunt Team before the filming, the physicality of the shooting was tense. They noted that “every other day is a stunt”, which is incredible taxation. Ramsey was allowed to do all his stunts, including the battle scenes in Episode 1 and the water productions in Episode 7.
“I said with all my love for Ellie,” Ramsey said of their “last man” role. “But she's selfish.”
(Bexx Francois/Times)
“where [Ellie is] “Climbing out of the ocean is in the real ocean of frozen,” Ramsey said. “I just recovered from bronchitis. There is a wetsuit under my outfit and water collected in the wetsuit and backpack, so it's heavy. I had to summon everything I had to do.”
As part of “Our Last Man,” Ramsey proves that they can do anything actors, including crying about the orders – a newly acquired talent in Season 2. “I really know the ability of the mind and body because of the duration and challenges of such a long and mental performance,” Ramsey said.
This is Ramsey’s second time playing the lead role for “Our Last Man” in the drama, making them the first non-binary actor to be nominated for an Emmy Award. It was comforting for Ramsey, who never imagined himself in a position of influence.
“It’s great to see,” Ramsey said. “I think that's something people like me are always looking for: to see who they are. It's a lovely thing, it's a lovely thing, and hopefully it helps other people with a gender sub-qualification feel it. I just exist.