“The Last of Us” season two got audiences talking when Joel (Pedro Pascal) was killed off in the second episode. But Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie, a scene in episode three was the hardest to shoot.
The second season is based on the 2020 game “The Last of Us Part II,” which sparked controversy because of Joel’s death.
There are only a few minor differences between how Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) kills Joel in the series versus the game. It’s a traumatic moment for Ellie, who is forced to watch Joel die.
In episode three, Ellie goes to Joel’s house and smells one of the jackets in his closet as she grieves the loss of her adopted father figure.
“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,” Ramsey told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Sunday.
They added: “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.”
Ramsey said to achieve the desired effect, they didn’t recall sad memories but filming with Pedro Pascal instead.
“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,” they said.
Pascal previously touched on what it was like filming his brutal death scene in “The Last of Us” season two when speaking to Entertainment Weekly on April 20.
“I’ve never experienced anything like I did that day where I stepped onto set in full makeup and then killed the vibe completely as soon as anyone set their eyes on me. This kind of shock and heartbreak… it was weird to be on the receiving end of that,” he said.
Pascal added: “It’s like the extreme version of, ‘Is there something on my face?’ I really could see this sort of grief take over everyone’s look in their eyes.”
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