Bella Ramsey Tells ‘The Last of Us’ Critics to Not Watch Season 3 If They “Hate It So Much”

Bella Ramsey is urging critics of The Last of Us to stop watching the show if they don’t like the adaptation of the beloved video games.

Season 2 of the HBO series chronicled the events of PlayStation’s 2020 game The Last of Us Part II and included the brutal murder of lead character Joel (Pedro Pascal) by the show’s newcomer antagonist Abby (Kaitlyn Dever). Additionally, the sophomore season depicted the portrayal of Ellie’s (Ramsey) same-sex relationship with Dina (Isabela Merced). As the show was airing new episodes, several viewers expressed their anger over Joel’s death. Meanwhile, others posted homophobic comments on social media about Ellie and Dina’s romance.

While appearing on “The Awardist” podcast, Ramsey — who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns — was asked to share their reactions to the show’s “louder critics.” They then admitted that they ultimately tried to “steer clear” from the show’s haters.

“Because there’s nothing I can do about it anyway. The show is out. There’s nothing that can be changed or altered. So I’m like, there’s not really any point in reading or looking at anything,” Ramsey explained. “People are of course entitled to their opinions. But it doesn’t affect the show, it doesn’t affect how the show continues or anything in any way. They’re very separate things to me. So no, I just don’t really engage.”

Ramsey went on to tell the show’s critics that they don’t need to tune into the upcoming Season 3. “You don’t have to watch it. If you hate it that much, the game exists. You can just play the game again,” they said. “If you do want to watch it, hope you enjoy it.”

The premiere date for The Last of Us Season 3 has not yet been announced, though the show was renewed for a third season before Season 2 premiered in April.

Prior to the Season 2 premiere, Ramsey made it clear that they wouldn’t tolerate mean comments about the show while gracing the cover of The Hollywood Reporter in April.

Following the success of Season 1, fans pointed out that Ramsey’s physical appearance did not live up to the character’s unrealistic metamorphosis in the video games. Due to the online backlash, Ramsey deactivated their social media accounts.

“I always knew that I’d [deactivate] it one day and never even really wanted to have social media in the first place,” Ramsey said. “It wasn’t like this big dramatic thing, but there was an element of it that was thinking about the show coming out for season two. If I just avoid Twitter and Reddit, which now I’m doing, then everything’s totally fine.”