My Weekend (Age-Appropriate) Crush

The older I get the more truly great acting impresses me. It’s not just the mimicry, which while an undeniable skill isn’t what makes great acting great. It’s the ability to tap deeply into the emotions behind the movements. The power to make the make believe real through nothing more than a performance is a special kind of witchcraft. And, damn, if that doesn’t make Bella Ramsey the best kind of witch (not worst, see what I did there since they used to be on “Worst Witch”…Fine, I’ll see myself out).

As an avowed lover of apocalypse/disaster art, I’ve loved “The Last of Us” almost more than seems healthy. And I’ve loved it, in large part, because of the stunning work by Bella and Pedro Pascal as Ellie and Joel. While the show can be unbearably tense at times (and given me a whole new fearsome appreciation of mushrooms), what has impressed me perhaps the most is how well Bella has been able to tap into the universality of being a teenager in an impossible situation.

At 19, the nonbinary actor is utterly, heartbreakingly, unmistakably believable as a teenager just trying to stay alive in an apocalyptic hellscape. They can be totally annoying one second, totally terrified the next and cracking bad dad jokes when it’s all over. Bella’s Ellie feels real. You’ve met teens like this. Maybe you were a teen like this. But you never had to face faceless fungus monsters or ruthless murderous raiders. That push-pull of their character as she navigates an insane world while continuing to be a smart alecky teen on one side and a terrified child on the other — with the added pressure of the whole saving the world things on top of all that — makes Ellie as poignant as heroines get.

But then, we knew Bella was something special since their days as Lady Lyanna Mormont on Game of Thrones. While I can’t help but look back at that series through the lens of its maddeningly disappointing ending, Bella’s work as the tiny, fearless leader of the Bear Islands is among the show’s most memorable. Lady Mormont was one of the few killed off characters to get a proper hero’s death. And I’ll forever associate Bella with that “Go, little rock star” energy.

One of the other more refreshing things about Bella is their very Gen Z-esque “get used to it” attitude about sexuality and gender identity. They’ve come out as nonbinary (without, they’ve said, true pronoun preference choice). They’ve also revealed they wore a binder during much of “The Last of Us” filming. And that they’ve had many good conversations with Pedro (who has a trans sister) about gender and sexuality, which is all kinds of lovely and obviously shows in their onscreen chemistry.

Of the queer storylines on the show (including the Bill & Frank episode which no one has recovered from emotionally and the upcoming storylines around Ellie’s relationship with Dina — who everyone is pretty sure we caught a brief glimpse of in Episode 6), Bella is gratefully blunt. They told GQ magazine this about backlash to the queer storylines in TLOU games and series:

“I’m not particularly anxious about it. I know people will think what they want to think. But they’re gonna have to get used to it. If you don’t want to watch the show because it has gay storylines, because it has a trans character, that’s on you, and you’re missing out.”

Like I said, go little rock star. And, on a totally superficial note, I’m loving their red carpet and photoshoot styles recently. In an appreciative way, not a lecherous way because I am An Old and 19 is just waywayway too young to even think about in that way. Happy weekend, all.

p.s. Honestly, I’m not even going to dignify the “Bella’s not attractive enough to play Ellie” troll comments that were spawned by their casting because this is a character that’s supposed to be 14 years old WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU THAT YOU WANT TO GET A BONER FROM THE CASTING OF A TEENAGE PART.