Devoted fans of The Last Of Us videogame couldn't wait for the HBO adaptation... and were also pretty nervous about what the end result would be. Thankfully, everyone breathed a big sigh of relief when watching the first episode, which introduced young actress Bella Ramsey as Ellie and Pedro Pascal as her companion Joel. The series pulls viewers in with as much emotion as was present in the game, and the character development is particularly great.
Pedro Pascal's The Last Of Us salary is said to have been $600,000 for every episode or $6 million for season 1. That is absolutely amazing and speaks to his talent and perfect casting as Joel... but was Bella Ramsey paid the same amount to play Ellie?
What Did HBO Pay Bella Ramsey For The Last Of Us?
The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey's acting history includes starring on another HBO series, as she played Lyanna Mormont on Game of Thrones. Did HBO pay the actress as much as Pedro Pascal to play Ellie on The Last Of Us?
While Bella Ramsey's The Last Of Us salary isn't available, Showbizgalore.com puts it at $70,000 for every episode. That number hasn't been confirmed by any other sources, though.
Although it would be fair to say that Pascal and Ramsey get equal screen time on the popular series as they play the two main characters, Pascal is a bigger name, and that might be the reason why HBO paid him so much.
The actor has some huge roles behind him, including the main character in The Mandalorian and Oberyn Martell on Game Of Thrones. He has starred on several TV series ranging from Homeland to Buffy The Vampire Slayer to Brothers & Sisters, Nurse Jackie, and The Good Wife.
It's possible to assume that Bella Ramsey was paid well to star on The Last Of Us, though, as HBO is known for paying actors a lot of money, and The Last Of Us is a series that HBO seems to have been super excited about. It was tough for fans of the video game to wait and see whether the adaptation would be good or bad, and it's safe to say that everyone was happy with the outcome.
According to Go Banking Rates, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon were paid between $250,000 and $350,000 for every episode of the first season of Big Little Lies. And when they began filming the second season, they were given raises and paid $1 million for every episode.
What Was The Budget For The Last Of Us Season 1?
When thinking about what Bella Ramsey's The Last Of Us salary could have been, it's interesting to think about the show's budget in general. It's easy to assume that it was massive considering the scale of the production. Since the characters are living in the United States once the apocalypse has taken place and cordyceps have infected people with creepy viruses that turn them into zombie-like creatures, that kind of world-building wouldn't be cheap.
The budget for The Last Of Us is said to be more than $100 million. According to the Edmonton Journal, Jason Nolan, the supervising location manager for the show who lives in Calgary, said that they were careful about the post-apocalyptic setting looking the way that it should.
Nolan told the Edmonton Journal, “Right from the beginning, it was decided that we didn’t just want to find abandoned things, ruined things or destroyed areas and script them in. They wanted to go after reality and present the world that we see today but 20 years into the future after this has happened. How do we transform that in a way that brings the audience in?"
The Last Of Us team definitely succeeded as every episode presents a world that looks completely different but like it could possibly actually happen, which is where the show becomes pretty terrifying.
Given the huge budget of The Last of Us, it seems that each actor was paid well, since that would have been factored in. And since Bella Ramsey's character Ellie is truly the focal point of the story, as she is actually immune to the infection that is taking over the world, it makes sense that she would have been paid a salary that was more than decent.
What Has Bella Ramsey Said About Her Acting Career?
According to Buzzfeed, a fan who goes by @sourkettle on Twitter posted a video of Bella Ramsey being interviewed where she told an upsetting story about being a younger actress.
Ramsey said, “I was told [in] one of my first auditions ever... The director really liked me but I didn’t get the part because I didn’t have the ‘Hollywood look. That’s something that I’ve always found very interesting.” That couldn't have been an easy experience to have, and no one should have to go through that.
Bella Ramsey talked about being cast in The Last Of Us in a January 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter and said that when she was living in Alberta in the period before the TV show began filming, she kept thinking "You've chosen the wrong person."
Ramsey also told The Hollywood Reporter that she doesn't want people to know who she is and doesn't care about the fame part of acting: "I seriously considered that maybe I don’t want to be famous so I’m not going to do this show because it’s going propel me to a place I don’t want to go to in terms of being seen and being known. I like to blend in and hide.”
Bella Ramsey is such an impressive young actor because it's clear that she doesn't care about fame and wants to play characters who matter. She has an amazing 3.3 million followers on Instagram and likes to post photos of her on The Last Of Us set, especially with co-star Pedro Pascal. She also shares interviews that she has done and often writes in the captions that she appreciates the reporters for what they have written about her.
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