One of the two stars of the upcoming The Last of Us television show, Bella Ramsey, was actually encouraged not to play the game while auditioning for the role.
Ramsey, who plays Ellie in HBO’s adaptation of Naughty Dog’s critically acclaimed game and co-stars alongside Pedro Pascal as Joel, said in an interview with USA Today that when she auditioned for the role, she was explicitly asked whether or not she had played The Last of Us. When she said she hadn’t, she said she was encouraged not to.
“After my first audition, they asked me, ‘Have you played it?'” Ramsey said. “And I said ‘nope’, and they said, ‘Keep it that way.'”