Bella Ramsey may best be known for playing Ellie on The Last of Us, but Game of Thrones fans remember the young performer’s breakout role as Lyanna Mormont. Ramsey brought a lot of screen presence to the part despite being only 11-years-old, and Kit Harington has a vivid memory about being upstaged by his younger co-star when Lyanna and his character, Jon Snow, shared a scene in the later seasons of the show.
Ramsey and Harington were featured together in a new issue of Interview Magazine where they spoke about their shared time together on HBO’s fantasy series. In retrospect, Ramsey expressed remorse over showing up Harington by mouthing his own lines to him when he appeared to forget them during their scene.
“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,” recounted Ramsey. “I don’t know whether you remember this, but I remember it quite vividly and have some remorse for it now, but during [our introduction] scene I was mouthing your lines to you. Now I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, how awful.’ 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.'”
For his part, Harington doesn’t hold a grudge against Ramsey for doing that. But he keenly recalled feeling like he needed to match the talent of his young co-star.
“It wasn’t [annoying] at all,” said Harington. “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.’ Not that it’s a competition, but you’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve got a bit too comfortable in my Jon Snow-ness.'”
Thanks to the success of The Last of Us, Ramsey now has the benefit of headlining a huge hit on HBO just as Harington did for the better part of the decade. And the future still looks bright for the young star.
