The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey says her gender is ‘fluid’: ‘I’m just a person’
The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey was told they didn’t have ‘the Hollywood look’. (Getty)
Bella Ramsey opened up about their fluid gender identity while promoting the highly-anticipated TV adaptation of The Last of Us.
Ramsey, one of the leads in the upcoming HBO video game adaptation, said she doesn’t have much of a preference when it comes to pronouns , and considers herself just “a person”
“I guess my gender has always been very fluid,” Ramsey told The New York Times. “Someone would call me ‘she’ or ‘her’ and I wouldn’t think about it, but I knew that if someone called me ‘he’ it was a bit exciting.”
Ramsey is nominated for a Critics Choice Award in a gender neutral category for their role in Lena Dunham film Catherine Called Birdy – something which they found “pleasing”.
“I’m very much just a person,” they said, adding that they would tick ‘non-binary’ on a form where the option was available.
“Being gendered isn’t something that I particularly like, but in terms of pronouns, I really couldn’t care less,” Ramsey added.
Gendered award categories have been debated in the run-up to awards season, with The Crown‘s Emma Corrin saying they should be considered alongside more representation for non-binary people.
Bella Ramsey, 19, shot to fame aged 11 as Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones.
Who is The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey?
Bella Ramsey is an English actor best known for her breakthrough role as Lyanna Mormont in HBO’s Game of Thrones from 2016-19.
She plays Ellie in HBO’s The Last of Us series, a tenacious teenager fighting for survival and, as we discover in the games, a lesbian.
Born in Nottingham in 2003, the actor also starred as Mildred Hubble in CBBC’s 2017 series The Worst Witch and played Angelica in the BBC adaptation of His Dark Materials.
Ramsey was announced as The Last of Us’ beloved protagonist Ellie in February 2021, with early reviews for the show praising the actor’s peformance as “simply electrifying.”
On Wednesday (11 January), Ramsey revealed that they first heard about The Last of Us after reading an article on PinkNews.
“I’d heard of it very briefly, through a PinkNews story I’d read about it – but that’s it, that was my only sort of introduction to it”, they told BBC Radio 1.
Will Ellie be portrayed as gay in HBO’s The Last of Us?
Ellie is one of a handful of LGBTQ+ characters in HBO’s The Last of Us, including tragic romantic couple Bill and Frank who will be played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett respectively.
It is currently unclear how overtly Ellie’s sexuality will be explored in the first season, but the casting of Storm Reid as Riley Abel indicates that the teenage same-sex romance featured in 2014 video game expansion pack The Last of Us: Left Behind could be explored.
However, viewers are guaranteed a whole hour of television dedicated to Bill and Frank’s love story in episode three, which has been described by Bartlett as “beautiful”.
Initial critic reviews of the nine-episode HBO series have been overwhelmingly positive, which huge praise for Bill and Frank’s episode as well as the general strength of the adaptation.
It is currently at 97 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Last of Us airs on HBO on 15 January in the US and in the UK on Sky Atlantic and NOW on 16 January.
