Why Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey Never Met Before 'The Last of Us' Filming

In The Last of Us, Joel and Ellie are two characters thrown together for a job, one that might save the world from its current post-apocalyptic state, but isn't something they see as more than just that, a job.

What starts as a mission slowly develops into a moving friendship and deep bond between the pair, and actors Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey experienced something similar when they signed onto HBO's adaptation.

The actors told Newsweek and other publications what it was like to be part of the drama, which premieres on Sunday, January 15. They spoke alongside their co-stars Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandridge, original game creator Neil Druckmann, and showrunner Craig Mazin.

Why Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey Never Met Before 'The Last of Us' Filming

Pascal and Ramsey explained that they never met before cameras began rolling and because of this, their friendship grew as they went through production, much like how Joel and Ellie's father-daughter bond developed during their journey in Naughty Dog's iconic game.

Ramsey, who uses they/them pronouns, said that they "didn't get a chance to meet or bond, or do anything" prior to filming, namely because of the restrictions during the COVID pandemic.

"We were very much just thrown in," Ramsey said. "And that chemistry was there immediately and then grew and developed as Joel and Ellie's did, and as their relationship developed so did ours.

"I think that was a really nice parallel and maybe it was intentional, on behalf of the creators of the show Neil and Craig, to not give us time to meet and bond and I think it works really well."

They added: "We initially had this connection in that we were both about to embark on this year-long shooting process together and even longer than that, in terms of the impact of the show and all of this press stuff now, so we had to get along and thankfully we did, and it really wasn't hard."

Pascal mirrored Ramsey's comments, saying: "It was very parallel [to the games] in terms of getting to know each other by stepping on the set at the same time and getting in front of the camera, and starting to tell the story.

"Our shyness with one another, our adherence to invented expectations of one another, and just ultimately stepping forward with generosity, and since I got the daddy vibes in place from the get go, I guess I just had to take it from there.

"We did get to know each other more and more, we liked each other immediately but we knew each other by the end and that was really a fascinating experience."

On Recreating 'The Last of Us' Game

The Last of Us is set in 2023, 20 years after an outbreak of a mutant Cordyceps fungus that led to the downfall of mankind. The fungus infects human hosts and transforms them into aggressive creatures, and the infected come in various forms, including Clickers and Bloaters.

These creatures have all but taken over the planet, with survivors remaining in quarantine zones run by the military. But not all of humanity is happy with this arrangement, and some have joined the rebellion group known as The Fireflies led by Marlene (Dandridge), including Joel's brother Tommy (Luna).

The Last of Us is often hailed as one of the greatest games ever to be made, it won Game of the Year in 2013 at multiple awards shows and has been remastered for both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 following its release on the PS3.

HBO's adaptation has the difficult task of honoring the original whilst also bringing something new, and it does the former by recreating scenes that are shot-for-shot the same as the game, and even uses dialogue that gamers will recognize.

Ramsey said it "was scary and exciting in equal measure" to try and recreate certain moments from The Last of Us game onscreen, adding: "Especially these iconic scenes, it was very scary and exciting.

"We just cared so much about the source material and cared that it would feel familiar and that we would do it justice, and that people would relate to it in the same way that they related to the game," Ramsey explained.

Pascal added: "[Recreating] key moments that fans love of the game, that are part of this adaptation, was very scary and exciting for us.

"I think that amongst the challenges of a really, really physical year-long production there wasn't anything scarier than facing these key moments, I would say."

One particular iconic moment is "Outbreak Day," September 26, 2013 in the game which was changed to 2003 in the show. It is the day that the Cordyceps infection outbreak began and it is when Joel, Tommy and Joel's daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) had to try and get to safety fast.

This is recreated in the show's premiere episode, and Luna described how thrilling it was to bring these scenes to life onscreen.

"It's quite the experience when you're playing it, you're quickly thrown right into the writing, right into the danger," Luna said. "I remember when I was first introduced to that moment, which would have been when the game initially came out back in 2013, I went over to a friend's and he had a PlayStation [...] I didn't go any further than maybe 30, 40 minutes but that alone was already the hook, it had me.

"I found it to be extremely innovative in the gaming field, to be able to be selective about how I perceive and how I experienced what was happening around me all through the eyes of Sarah."

"To get there on the day, to experience 'we got to get out of dodge, we got to do it very quickly,' it was an incredible moment," Luna said of filming Outbreak Day. "It was like a last action hero moment, to do a call back to my buddy Arnold [Schwarzenegger], but it was truly a stunning experience.

"I mean you step right into the game, the set, the detail, everything was there, [there was] no acting required."

Adapting 'The Last of Us' Game for TV

Druckmann, who is the creator of The Last of Us game, acts as co-creator, writer and an executive producer on the HBO show, and he worked closely with Mazin to bring the story to life.

He told Newsweek: "The most important decision from my side of things has been to find the right partner and I could not have found someone better than Craig, and I'm not just saying that because he's sitting right here I'm saying it because of what that process looked like.

"Our first conversation [was] dissecting the game story into its individual elements and really deciding what is important, what isn't, and what are the goals that we're heading to?"

What Druckman appreciated most, he said, was the way Mazin was unafraid to keep things from the game that worked but also suggested changes that would further add to Joel and Ellie's story.

"Craig [had] the confidence to say 'some stuff works wonderfully in the game and there's no reason to change it, like I don't even need to put my stamp on it that just works, why mess with it?'" Druckmann went on.

"Other things that we had in a conversation was, 'okay, this works really well in this interactive medium but it's not going to work well over here in a more passive thing so let's focus on the drama instead of the action.' Let's really allow ourselves to sometimes go on these tangents away from Joel and Ellie, to focus on these other relationships, these other characters, show what they're struggling with and, in return, what we get is a greater understanding of who they are and how they affect Joel and Ellie, which enriches their journey ultimately.

"That was a really fun process of trying to figure out what stays and what changes, and then, when it does change, like 'okay, what does it look like and how do we iterate on it to get to make the best version of this story in this medium?'"

The Last of Us premieres on Sunday, January 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream HBO Max.