How did The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey scared the Showrunner?

When viewers think of Ellie from The Last of Us, they might think of her as brave, compassionate, and strong. No one really thinks of Ellie as someone who might be scary. However, that is exactly how she is after losing Joel (played by Pedro Pascal), and Bella Ramsey portrays that frightening presence effectively in The Last of Us season two episode, Feel Her Love.

The Last of Us showrunner and co-creator Craig Mazin said in a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter that when Bella Ramsey, as Ellie, kills Nora in The Last of Us Season 2 episode Feel Her Love, he got scared of her.

Ellie's change in The Last of Us

In the fifth episode of The Last of Us season two, we see Ellie and Dina head to Seattle to find Abby (played by Kaitlyn Dever) and her crew members. This was the beginning of Ellie turning into the person she hates- Abby. Abby, too, was consumed by the overwhelming need for revenge after Joel killed her father to save Ellie. That need led to her killing Joel, and now that very same feeling has led Ellie to kill Nora and will lead to hunting Abby down.

In Feel Her Love, Ellie's hunt for Abby leads her to find Nora (played by Tati Gabrielle), a medical officer who was a member of Abby's crew. Ellie repeatedly asks Nora where Abby is, threatening her by holding her at gunpoint. Once Nora gives up Abby's location, Ellie, overtaken by her need for revenge, kills her.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, The Last of Us showrunner and co-creator Craig Mazin said:

“In that moment, in that hallway, [director] Stephen Williams and Bella and I discussed how this would challenge an audience because I think we all innately love Ellie and root for Ellie in part because Ellie is the protagonist — but not here.”

Mazin continues:

“No, not here. She does turn away from Jesse and Dina. She does this horrible thing — the look on her face and the way she transforms in that scene. I was scared of her, and I didn’t like her, and I didn’t want her to do what she’s doing. Tim Good — the editor of that episode — and I referred to Bella in that scene as ‘baby shark’ because there’s something about her eyes that are so dark and dead. There’s this ferocity there that Bella can create. This is so far from what we saw just an episode earlier with her and Dina celebrating love and new life.”

Mazin adds:

“Just as Abby started to slip away from her stated reasons, we can see Ellie slipping away from her stated reasons.”

“This is no longer rational. She’s so far from that fake speech she delivered at the [Jackson town council] meeting. ‘Oh, this isn’t about vengeance, it’s about us and community.’ Absolutely not. This is going right back to what has always been there in Ellie, which is a rage that I don’t even think she fully understands herself.”

Mazin also said that:

“This is not the last time the season that Ellie is going to do something where we feel like, ‘We can’t go on that walk with you kid.”

You can watch all released episodes of The Last of Us on Max. New episodes of The Last of Us season two come out every Sunday at 9 pm ET on HBO and Max.

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