Game of Thrones bonded The Last of Us stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey: We came 'from a family'

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were passing ships on HBO's Game of Thrones, but both earned the rank of fan-favorite.

Pascal, 47, dropped into the mix of medieval power plays as Oberyn Martell, a sexually ravenous prince of the sun-soaked Dorne who makes both his radiant entrance and tragic exit in season 4. "My experience with Game of Thrones was incredibly romantic," the actor tells EW over Zoom, with 19-year-old Ramsey on a separate screen. "My costume was probably a lot more comfortable than Bella's, and the locations I shot in might have been much more comfortable. But she was young enough to deal with an uncomfortable costume, I think."

While Pascal enjoyed colorful robes in the warm glow of Croatia, which served as the filming location for King's Landing, Ramsey's Lyanna Mormont, a 13-year-old ruler from season 6 with a sharp blade and a sharper tongue, was layered up in hefty coats for the frigid Bear Island. "It was my first job ever, so I didn't know any different," Ramsey says of her wardrobe back then. With a smirk and an air of sarcasm, she jokes, "I was young and impressionable."

The pair now finally share the screen together as the leads of HBO's The Last of Us: Pascal as Joel, a man scarred by the death of his daughter, ferrying Ramsey's Ellie across a post-apocalyptic America. The actors' connections to Westeros made the bonding process easy for this cinematic odyssey.

Helen Sloan/HBO (2); HBO 'Game of Thrones' vets Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey share the screen for the first time in 'The Last of Us.'

"I feel like it made us come from a family without knowing each other already," Pascal says of Thrones. "To have two characters that the fans liked make their entrance and make their exit is parallel for the both of us and a kind of bonding thing before we even got a chance to bond. So, yes, I am grateful for that."

"I don't think that I'd be an actor if it wasn't for Game of Thrones, 'cause I never really set out to be [one], and then it sort of happened," Ramsey remarks. "I wouldn't have it any other way. So it set me up and prepared me for The Last of Us, and all my other projects, in ways that I don't think anything else could."

The burgeoning actress from Nottingham wouldn't be shocked if The Last of Us proved to be the next Game of Thrones — meaning the next big-budget piece of genre TV that sparks obsessive water-cooler conversations. Some critics have suggested it will be. "But I don't think it's gonna be as long as Game of Thrones," Ramsey mentions. "I don't think it's gonna be this show that goes on forever."

Series creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have indicated their hope to adapt the main events of both acclaimed video games on which the show is based, and nothing more. So, not eight seasons. Still, Pascal playfully shushes his costar out of fear she'll spoil something — which is very much aligned with Thrones secrecy.

"None of us wanna think about that. We had such a great time [making The Last of Us] and it's such a rare experience where you get to bond to this degree," he says. "You almost feel like if you have a really good experience, it's asking for too much that it'd be well received or that experience be translated to an audience, but that's the intention and what our whole want is more than anything."

HBO Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey debut as Joel and Ellie in HBO's 'The Last of Us'

With a production budget that's reportedly $10-15 million per episode, Sunday's premiere of The Last of Us at least showed audiences that HBO reserved comparable resources for this hotly anticipated title.

Shot in Calgary, Canada, the drama showed Joel, severely hardened by the loss of his daughter, who died just as a fungal cordyceps plague was beginning to transform those afflicted into vicious, zombie-like creatures. Twenty years later, he's living in a militarized quarantine zone in Boston with his partner Tess (Anna Torv). They are tasked by the rebel group called the Fireflies with smuggling Ellie to their allies on the outside, though this seemingly straightforward task becomes paramount when it's revealed that this young girl is immune to the effects of the virus that has irrevocably reshaped the world.

Gamers are already aware of the significance of Joel and Ellie's relationship. It will become more crucial as the series goes on. Joel is constantly reminded of the daughter he lost when looking at Ellie, while his charge slowly breaks down the wall around the grizzled black market trader who communicates in grunts.

Ramsey doesn't want to say "cheeky" when describing Ellie. "It sounds too cute," the actor says. "An a--hole I guess would be less cute." Ramsey points to the character's introduction in the premiere: the Fireflies have Ellie isolated in a room until they can figure out if she's immune to the bite from an infected on her arm. The girl counts to 10 before flashing her handlers the middle finger. "That was something that we played around with and did in lots of different ways," she says.

"The way that [The Last of Us] departs from what people's expectations may be, knowing the game very well, is what I loved the most," Pascal muses. "And the way that things sing around the central relationship of Ellie and Joel, and somehow directly affecting our journey and our arc but also the audience's experience of the whole piece."

Ramsey admits she put a lot of pressure on herself to "make instant friends" with Pascal on her first day shooting with the actor. Pascal had already been filming for months in Calgary by the time Ramsey arrived. Their first task together was performing a scene in the premiere when Joel and Ellie are alone in an apartment. Joel kills time by napping on the couch as Ellie pokes around.

"I felt like the new kid coming in," Ramsey recalls. Pascal used that opportunity to play a prank. "I remember that first day that you made me go up to Craig and say, 'I'm not doing any of that!'" she remembers. "I was like, 'It's a joke!' as soon as I said it 'cause I was so new and nervous. I actually struggled on the first day 'cause of my accent. I had the sound of the accent right, but..."

Pascal interjects: "It must have been terrifying."

"It was!"

HBO Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey star as Joel and Ellie in HBO's 'The Last of Us.'

Pascal, who's also had experience on another large-scale genre set, The Mandalorian, notes that day felt like his first, as well, even though it hadn't been. Everyone he spent the past month shooting with had left by that point, given the time jump that occurs towards the start of the show. He found himself thrust into a new situation with Ramsey and Torv. "I was just as scared," he admits.

Did that fear ever go away for either of them? "Nope," they both say at once. They start completing each other's sentences as they elaborate.

Pascal begins: "It just got kind of scarier and scarier."

"Yep," Ramsey agrees, "because as we go further into the shoot..."

"... there are more and more seminal moments," Pascal finishes.

"We took care of each other quite well, I think," Ramsey adds. "I think it was just the case of recognizing the pressure we were putting on ourselves. I guess that was helpful being able to recognize and verbalize things, but then it got to the point where we didn't even have to do that."

She addresses Pascal directly. "I knew when you were beating yourself up and you knew when I was beating myself up, and then we met in the middle or dragged each other kicking and screaming out of that state."

Fans of Joel and Ellie are likely delighted to hear about the bond between the actors who play them, but Pascal admits it could get annoying for their coworkers.

"There was so much time we got to spend together on set that it was almost weird when we weren't together, as far as shooting was concerned," he says. "There was this fascinating thing that would happen. We were just kind of in our own bubble no matter what. That almost became a little frustrating for our directors. The bond could never intentionally leave anybody out, but what became less hard was stepping into each other's presence and being together."

"We never stopped being scared or [were] convinced that we were getting it right," he adds, "but at least we could rely on each other without question. So often it almost felt like people [were] having to tap on the outside of a bubble to be like, 'Did you hear me?'"

It's the same kind of feeling interviewing them as a pair, trying to decipher the one-word remarks that suggest each knows immediately what the other is saying without further explanation. That's what you want out of your two leads, especially ones who spend the majority of their time on screen with each other.

Pascal had teased Ramsey at the start of the conversation on the Friday before premiere night. He had gotten an early morning text from his costar saying she'd be "a little late" to log into Zoom.

"He thinks I'm hungover," Ramsey says, "but I've never been hungover!"

A puckish Pascal quips, "She's already hitting her Hollywood nights."

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