Bella Ramsey Is “Determined to Stay British” Despite Having a US Accent in “The Last of Us”

Despite being cast as the main character Ellie in the American post-apocalyptic drama “The Last of Us”, Bella Ramsey is determined not to forget her British roots. The 19-year-old actor spoke of her breakout role on the HBO series on “The One Show” on 15 Feb. where she revealed how difficult she’s found it to shake off the American accent she adopted while filming the programme.

“I woke up speaking American. It happened last week, like I’m living back home, I don’t know why it’s happening,” she said. “I’m determined to stay British, but it’s difficult when I’m around people with American accents. I do find myself slipping back into an American accent quite easily.” Ramsey was born in Nottingham and began acting at the age of four. Her first professional acting credit was as Lyanna Mormont in “Game of Thrones”, another powerful role but a distinctly British character. Having spent months filming the video game adaptation in the States, adjusting back to life back in the UK has proven a little more of a challenge, but one that she is, of course, more than happy to take on. We have no doubt she’ll be losing that US lilt in no time.

The star recently revealed that she is nonbinary in a New York Times profile, but doesn’t mind which pronouns are used for her, and she is fine with she/her. In a recent interview with GQ, she revealed that she wore a chest binder “90 percent” of the time to flatten her chest while shooting “The Last of Us” which helped her focus more on set.

Ramsey’s portrayal of the smart and witty teenager Ellie, played opposite Pedro Pascal, has been widely praised, though the series has been criticised by some for changing storylines to include more queer elements. “I’m not particularly anxious about it,” she said. “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.”