The Last Of Us homophobic backlash left Bella Ramsey shocked

Both the game and TV versions of The Last of Us tell a fantastic story, and introduce some incredible characters with complex and intriguing backstories. HBO’s adaptation in particular has done a brilliant job of focusing on the people and their individual tales, like in ‘Long, Long Time’, but some viewers responded to this episode very negatively for one sad reason.

‘Long, Long Time’ explored Bill and Frank’s lives - how they met, fell in love, and ultimately died together. However, both this episode and ‘Left Behind’, which covered Ellie’s backstory and relationship with her first love Riley, were review bombed due to their inclusion of LGBTQ+ stories. In an interview with Vanity Fair, The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey revealed that seeing the homophobic backlash shocked them.

“Going into [‘Left Behind’], I wasn’t even thinking of the homophobic trolls, to be honest. I didn’t register,” Ramsey said. “In my personal life, gay storylines and gay people existing is so normal to me now that it blows my mind still when I’m on Twitter and I accidentally come across a homophobic tweet. I’m like, ‘Wow, homophobia still exists in this modern world.’ It’s so bizarre to me that people can still keep those views. I find it actually quite fascinating.”

Sadly, Ramsey was also hit with a slew of negativity when it was first announced that they’d been cast as Ellie. They said: “I feel like I was hit with most of [negative reactions] when I first got announced as Ellie. That’s when it was the most [intense], and I’d never really experienced any negative reaction before. It was present the whole way through, but it died down after the initial outcry. Now [that] the show has come out. I’ve stopped looking for the negative things. That’s what’s changed - I’ve stopped looking.”

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

Season two of The Last of Us has been confirmed, but doesn’t currently have a release date. Watch this space.