The Emmy-nominated star is looking forward to getting rough, physical and romantic, too.

Bella Ramsey is getting ready to take on the clickers once more. The Emmy Award-nominated star of HBO’s The Last of Us has confirmed that production of the second season of the acclaimed post-apocalyptic series — based on the video game sequel, The Last of Us Part II — is set to begin in the next few months.

Speaking to Collider’s Steve Weintraub to promote her upcoming role in Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Ramsey was asked about the beginning of production on the second season of the acclaimed series, and was able to confirm to the delight of fans that production would indeed kick-off in the early part of 2024. Filming had been pushed back — like so many other projects across Hollywood — as a result of the successful Writers’ Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, but Ramsey was delighted with both the result of the strikes, and the imminent return to what has been her defining role in her short career to date.

“[We begin shooting] next year. No, I do actually know. I mean, I temporarily know,” said Ramsey. “Things are changing all the time, I think with the strikes, obviously now they’re finished, that’s amazing and we can actually get going and we can talk about it, but I think it’s delayed a couple of things, and availability and stuff. So we’ll see, but it will happen at some point early next year, which is exciting.”

Bella Ramsey is Keen to Get More “Physical” in ‘The Last of Us’

Weintraub then inquired which aspects of Season 2 that Ramsey was particularly enthusiastic about. Remarking that getting to be more physical — Ellie is notably much fitter and stronger in The Last of Us Part II — was definitely a selling point for her, another more intimate part of the role was extremely enticing.

She admitted that, having experienced a small taste of a romantic angle in Season 1’s acclaimed “Left Behind” episode, where she was paired with Storm Reid in a flashback episode, the prospect of exploring Ellie’s personal life and sexuality fully was a tantalizing one, with the new character of Dina — hinted at in the first season episode when Ellie and Joel (Pedro Pascal) arrived in Jackson — set to play a major role in the show going forward.

Yeah, lots of things. I’m excited for the really intense stuff, because I did a bit of that in Season 1 obviously, but to do that. And actually more physical scenes because Ellie is obviously more physically fit in Season 2. I love stunt stuff, and like waking up with bruises the next day, and finding myself with a black eye, just because it feels like so good to have done it.

So I’m looking forward to doing that stuff, and also the Dina storyline. Because obviously, I had the one episode in Season 1 with Ellie and Riley, but to have it as a storyline throughout the whole of the second game in terms of Ellie and Dina is really exciting.

Where Can I Watch ‘The Last of Us’ ?

The first season of The Last of Us is available to watch on Max in the U.S. Watch the full interview in the player above.