How ‘The Last of Us’ Star Bella Ramsey ‘Humiliated’ Their ‘Game of Thrones’ Co-Star
Today, Bella Ramsey is best known as the Emmy-nominated star of HBO’s hit series The Last of Us. But not that long ago, they made their onscreen debut as Lyanna Mormont, the pint-sized badass and leader of House Mormont on Game of Thrones. It was during the filming of season 6 on that previous series that Ramsey—then just 11 years old—managed to humiliate their critically acclaimed co-star.
Ramsey sat down with former Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harington for a new feature in Interview Magazine. The two actors reminisced about their Westeros days, including a seemingly awkward moment when Ramsey very innocently tried to help out their scene partner, but left him mortified.
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After discussing how long it has been since the two had seen each other—they figured about seven years—Harington, who played bastard-turned-King in the North Jon Snow, shared his memories of first watching Ramsey in action.
“I’m going to blow a bit of smoke here, so I’m sorry, but there was a real feeling of you being a different entity of child actor. We were like, ‘Oh, they’re good,’” said Harington, which Ramsey found incredibly “sweet.”
“I remember not feeling like a child, but now I see 11-year-olds and realize how tiny they are, so it’s weird to me that I was that size and that young, because I didn’t feel that tiny,” Ramsey shared. Before reminding Harington of a moment they remembered “quite vividly and have some remorse for it now.” In the midst of a scene, Harington apparently got a bit lost in his lines—and Ramsey attempted to come to his rescue by mouthing them to him.
“Now I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, how awful,’” said Ramsey. “But at the time it came from a very innocent place of being like, ‘Kit’s struggling with his line and I know it, so let me just mouth it to him.’”
Harington knew exactly the moment Ramsey was talking about. “I do remember you helping me out and it being quite humiliating,” he said, laughing. “But yeah, thanks for that. I’ve probably chosen to forget it.”
Ramsey offered a joking “You’re welcome” in response, before declaring how “annoying” that must have been. Harington assured them that “It wasn’t at all. If anything I was like, ‘Oh god, I’ve got to up my game. I came here not really being comfortable enough with my lines, in the arrogance of however old I was, thinking I’m just opposite some child. And then that child actor is wiping me off the screen.’”
Harington concluded that while it certainly wasn’t “a competition,” having a pre-teen show him up on set gave him a kick he might have needed. He said that it made him realize he may have gotten “a bit too comfortable in my Jon Snow-ness.”