LOS ANGELES — Bella Ramsey can take a hard punch. But they can also give some back.

To do so, the actor incorporated a new element into their preparation for the second season of "The Last of Us": physical training.

For two months, they practiced martial arts and worked to become more proficient in combat and weapons. They also worked to increase their strength.

"It was fun," says Ramsey of their fight training. "Getting physically fit and strong, it was great to have an excuse to do that."

"It's since all gone away," they add.

One of the first scenes the 21-year-old British actor shot for Season 2 is the fight in a barn seen in the April 13 premiere. More a training exercise than an actual altercation, Ramsey's Ellie eventually takes down her much larger foe before learning, to her chagrin, that her opponent pulled his punches.

"My favorite days were the stunt days," says Ramsey. "I had so many bruises all the time … My lip got busted open [while filming] Season 2. I still got a little scar on my lip."

Created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, HBO's post-apocalyptic drama is set in a world that is ravaged by the outbreak of a mysterious cordyceps fungus. Infected human hosts transform into deadly monsters that are driven to continue spreading the disease.

Ramsey plays Ellie, a snarky and resilient teenage girl who happens to be the only known human who is immune to the fungus. The first season of the acclaimed video game adaptation followed Ellie and her initially reluctant guardian Joel (played by Pedro Pascal) as they traveled cross-country in hopes of helping the efforts to make a cure. Things do not go as planned.

The physicality of the season that begins right out the gate was one of the things Druckmann had discussed with Ramsey and he commended them on their commitment to training. With Ramsey standing at just over 5 feet tall, Ellie uses her size as an asset — combining nimbleness and reckless overconfidence to subdue much larger foes, people and infected alike.

"There was a lot of dedication into getting physically ready, which I believe helped them get emotionally ready as well for this role," he says, calling Ramsey "the best."

Sitting cross-legged on a sofa in a West Hollywood hotel suite on a morning in March, Ramsey admits readily that doing press is not their favorite part of the job. And despite it being nearly 10 years since their breakout role as the fierce Lyanna Mormont in "Game of Thrones," the amount of attention that comes from portraying the lead in a blockbuster show like "The Last of Us" is of a completely different magnitude. ("For 'Game of Thrones' I had, like, two phone call interviews. It was amazing," they reminisced.)

Still, they are game for a meandering conversation that detours through anecdotes about the taste of mushroom cupcakes (thanks, British Vogue), appearing in a recent music video for Girlband!, fearing for their life while on a turbulent seaplane ride and even their go-to karaoke song — "Titanium" by David Guetta.

As they look back at their time filming the second season, Ramsey admits that the shoot was much more grueling and challenging for them this time around. They also note more than once that they've noticed the parallels between their character and themselves. For instance, in Season 2, we see Ellie trying to establish her independence and get away from Joel's helicopter parenting.

"I definitely feel that too," says Ramsey, who chose to live on their own while shooting this season, unlike the first when they lived with their mother. "Wanting people to trust that I'm good and I got it and I can do stuff on my own."

They also feel very connected to the character because playing Ellie has helped them understand more about themself.

Picking up five years after the events of the first season, the Season 2 opener reveals that Ellie and Joel's relationship has become strained since moving to the settlement in Jackson, Wyoming. Season 1 ended with Joel learning that the only way to develop a potential cure to the infection involved surgically removing Ellie's brain. It leads to his deadly rampage against the Fireflies, the militia group in charge of the facility where the procedure was to take place. Joel then lies to Ellie about what happened.

Ramsey describes Joel's actions as an "ethical conundrum."

"I understand it and have a lot of empathy for him, but what he did was obviously wrong," Ramsey says . But "there is no right or wrong answer, really. I think it's really nuanced and sort of personal … In Season 2, we see the repercussions of that and the lie. I think the lie was the thing that was worse."

Although it is unclear how much Ellie knows about what happened, it's hinted that she suspects Joel has not been completely truthful. Among the things Ramsey found interesting about Ellie in Season 2 is that we see her operating in a community. For an orphan who grew up mostly alone, being a part of a family unit is something completely new. Ramsey was also eager to explore Ellie's anger as someone who doesn't often experience it on their own.

"I think Bella really embraces the difficult part of being Ellie … which is that Ellie is our protagonist, until Ellie is not," Mazin says. "That there is hero and villain in this person, and that that's part of the the point of all of this. That our reliance on people being heroes or villains does us a disservice, and it leads to some pretty bad behavior."

"I think for Bella as an actor, it was just exciting to not have to portray somebody that everybody would be cheering for all the time," he added. "They were very excited at the prospect of being somebody that people would struggle with."

Mazin is full of fatherly affection for Ramsey as he describes the young actor as "an old soul." He reveals that much like Ellie, Ramsey has a goofy sense of humor and a love of puns. But their biggest difference, according to Mazin, is Ramsey's inclination toward kindness.

"Bella's instinct is to be more concerned about other people than they are with themselves," Mazin says. "Ellie has a more self-centered point of view. Ellie's world is her and Joel and God help anybody who gets in the middle of it."

This kindness is most tangible as Ramsey discusses their thoughts on identity and representation and the communities they represent. Last month the actor shared they are autistic in an interview with British Vogue. In 2023, just before the show's premiere, they mentioned being nonbinary in an interview with the New York Times.

"I'm really bad at keeping my own secrets," says Ramsey, who does value their privacy but also acknowledges their platform is a privilege. So "when I'm in an interview setting … I'm very susceptible to just telling people personal things. But it didn't feel like a big decision."

"If there's a way that I can speak up for the issues that matter and let people know that being yourself is actually like … the best possible way you can move through the world … it's something that is definitely a blessing of being in the public eye," they add.

Joining Ramsey as part of the show's Season 2 cast are Isabela Merced as Dina, Ellie's best friend and love interest, as well as Young Mazino as Jesse, another close friend of Ellie's who used to date Dina. Also new is Kaitlyn Dever's Abby, who is on a quest for vengeance.

While Ramsey only has effusive praise for their castmates, they also admit they were a bit nervous heading into the season. As someone who has always felt like adults were easier to befriend even as a child, Ramsey says they get "quite intimidated" by people in their age group.

"I felt like the shy new kid," says Ramsey. "They were all so cool, I felt like the shy, awkward one."

Despite some prodding, Ramsey is a pro at steering the conversation clear of any spoilers and they were even more diligent than the showrunners.

Mazin, for instance, confirms that Ramsey will be singing and playing the guitar as Ellie this season. ("That's Bella, no tricks!" he says.) Druckmann adds that Ramsey was even involved in the discussions around what song they would play.

Playing and making music, Ramsey shares, are among the things they turn to in order to decompress. And though it is a bit on the backburner right now, they think they will probably release some songs "in a sneaky way" eventually.

"Music has sort of given me the same feelings of joy and satisfaction that being on set gives me," says Ramsey. "It's nice to have another outlet to be able to feel that way."

Druckmann also mentions that Ellie and Dina's romance is much more established at the start of "The Last of Us Part II" game than it is on TV. The show, however, takes its time to develop their relationship as more of a slow burn.

While the second season of "The Last of Us" arrives at a time when right-wing hostilities towards LGBTQ+ communities and their rights continue to be on the rise, the franchise has been the target of homophobic and transphobic backlash for years.

"It sort of feels good to make those people angry about it," says Ramsey. "You can be angry about it but it's not going to change the fact that the show is coming out and there's women kissing in it and there's a trans character in the game, Lev."

Still, Ellie and Dina being subjected to homophobic remarks in the first episode of the season feels particularly timely in the current political climate. Before the altercation, Ellie is telling Dina that people should not perceive her as a threat despite the latter's insistence.

"I think it's really important with shows like this to show that we're not a threat," says Ramsey. "That 'there's no reason to be [terrified], I'm not a threat' line is very relevant to the communities that this show and other art represents. [We're] just human beings like everybody else. There's no reason to be threatened by communities who are bringing so much light and love into the world."

That may be true in regard to the LGBTQ+ community — but that doesn't change the fact that Ellie is pretty dangerous.

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.