Spoilers ahead for ‘The Last Of Us’ season two.
Bella Ramsey has opened up about the most challenging scene to shoot for The Last Of Us season two.
READ MORE: Here’s every song on ‘The Last Of Us’ season 2 soundtrack
Ramsey, who plays Ellie in HBO’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic drama, told The Hollywood Reporter that although their character experiences a lot of turmoil in the second season, a quiet scene from the episode released today (28 April) in the UK was the toughest to film.
This week’s instalment comes after the brutal ending to episode two, which saw Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) murder Joel (Pedro Pascal) as revenge for him killing her father during his hospital massacre at the end of season one.
The scene’s graphic violence and emotional resonance left fans shocked but mostly impressed, with those familiar with the game saying they’d been “dreading this moment”.
In episode three, Ellie weeps with grief over losing Joel, and smells one of his jackets from his closet. For Ramsey, that scene was the one they were most concerned about getting right.
They said: “Oh God, in the closet, that was the hardest [scene].
“So I really struggle with crying in scenes. I can get a tear out, but that’s different to crying. And even getting the tear, it doesn’t come easy for me. I don’t cry in front of people in my everyday life. A very, very limited amount of people in my life will see me cry.
“And so having to do that on a set full of people with the monitor and then more people watching the monitors…it’s virtually impossible for me. So I was really worried about that scene, and that was the toughest one for me to shoot.”
Regarding what was going through their head whilst filming, they said: “I’ve tried [before in crying scenes] to think about something really sad in my own life and try and evoke emotions that way.
“That doesn’t really work for me because it takes me out of the truth of the situation for Ellie. So I was remembering the happiest of memories that I have with Pedro.”
They continued: “The thing that is always the saddest for me is remembering the happy things. I was remembering us the first few times that we met and the whole of shooting season one together, and the funniest moments. I was remembering all of that and through the lens of losing him – not just Joel and Ellie, but like me and Pedro – because the memories of me and Pedro and Joel and Ellie are so intertwined for me.”
The second season scored a four-star review from NME, with Nick Levine writing: “A few fiddly episodes don’t spoil an entire season – especially one driven brilliantly by the fierce heat of vengeance.
“At its best, The Last Of Us is unsettling enough to make you question your own hypothetical moral code. When every day is about survival and making sense of post-apocalyptic chaos, does taking a life become easier, or somehow even harder? This show doesn’t just go deep narratively – it also cuts deep emotionally.”
The Last Of Us is available to watch in the UK on Sky Atlantic and NOW.