Bella Ramsey shocked by homophobic reaction received by HBO’s The Last Of Us

In The Last of Us, a rather harrowing story is told lived by some of the characters with complex and intriguing backstories, both the game version and the TV series. The HBO adaptation in particular has done a brilliant job of focusing on people and their individual stories, much like ‘Long, Long Time,’ but some viewers responded very negatively to this episode for a sad reason.

The episode in question dealt with the lives of Bill and Frank: how they met, fell in love, and eventually died together. However, both this episode and ‘Left Behind’, which covered Ellie’s backstory and her relationship with her first love Riley, bombed due to the inclusion of LGBTQ+ storylines. In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine, The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey revealed that seeing the homophobic reaction surprised them.

“Upon entering [‘Left Behind’]I wasn’t even thinking about homophobic trolls, to be honest. I did not register. In my personal life, gay stories and the existence of gay people are so normal to me now that it still amazes me when I’m on Twitter and accidentally come across a homophobic tweet. I’m like, ‘Wow, homophobia still exists in this modern world. It’s so strange to me that people can still hold those views. In fact, I find it quite fascinating.”

At the same time, Ramsey also received a lot of negative feedback when it was first announced that they had been cast as Ellie. They said, “I’m sorry I got hit with most of the [reacciones negativas] when I was first announced as Ellie. That’s when it was more [intenso], and I had never experienced a negative reaction before. She was present the entire time, but calmed down after the initial protest. Now [que] the program is out. I have stopped looking for the negative things. That is what has changed: I have stopped looking”.

However, Ramsey has been highly praised by fans for her stellar performances on the show thus far. Ashley Johnson, who played Ellie in the games, says she feels Ramsey has “elevated” her character.

The second season of The Last of Us has been confirmed, but currently has no release date.