BELLA. That is the answer to the NYT Mini Crossword clue “Ramsey of ‘The Last of Us'” from August 11, 2025. Five letters, one of HBO’s most talked-about actors, and a career that has been building since she was 12 years old.
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The NYT Mini Crossword Clue: What You Need to Know
The clue appeared as 1 Down in the August 11, 2025 NYT Mini Crossword:
Clue: Ramsey of “The Last of Us” Answer: BELLA (5 letters)
The New York Times used the surname “Ramsey” to prompt the first name of Bella Ramsey, the British actor who plays Ellie Williams in HBO’s The Last of Us. It is the kind of clean, pop culture clue the Mini regularly throws in, and it references one of the most-watched shows in HBO history.
Who Is Bella Ramsey?
Bella Ramsey (full name Isabella May Ramsey) was born on September 25, 2003, in England. She is openly non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
Long before The Last of Us, Ramsey made a name for themselves at just 12 years old, playing Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones from Season 6 through Season 8 (2016–2019). It was a small role on paper — a fierce young noblewoman of Bear Island — but the performance turned Ramsey into an immediate fan favourite and signalled to the industry that something rare was happening.
From there:
- The Worst Witch (CBBC, 2017–2020) — the title role, earning a BAFTA for Young Performer in 2019
- Hilda (Netflix, 2018–2023) — voice lead in the animated series
- Catherine Called Birdy (2022) — lead role in Lena Dunham’s historical comedy film
- Resistance (2020) — a supporting role alongside Jesse Eisenberg
Then came The Last of Us, and Ramsey moved from breakout performer to full television star.
The Last of Us: Ellie, Joel, and What Season 2 Demanded
Season 1 (January 2023)
In Season 1, Ramsey plays Ellie Williams, a teenager immune to the fungal infection that has turned civilization to rubble. Pedro Pascal plays Joel, a hardened smuggler hired to get her across the country. The show became HBO’s biggest ratings success since House of the Dragon and earned Ramsey their first Emmy nomination.
Season 2 (April 13 – May 25, 2025)
Season 2, based on the first half of The Last of Us Part II video game, is a different kind of season entirely. Five years on, Joel and Ellie are settled in Jackson, Wyoming — until Joel is killed in Episode 2 by a group of surviving Fireflies seeking revenge for his actions at the Salt Lake City hospital in the Season 1 finale.
What follows is Ellie’s pursuit of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) through a wartime Seattle, with two factions at war around her: the Washington Liberation Front and a violent religious sect called the Seraphites.
With Pascal’s role significantly reduced after Joel’s death, Ramsey carried most of the season alone and became No. 1 on the call sheet for the first time in their career.
“I don’t know how we completed that,” Ramsey told Deadline in August 2025. “It was simultaneously one of the most challenging experiences… there aren’t very many sit-down, have-a-conversation scenes. They’re all like we’re walking for 1,000 miles, or we’re riding horses, or we’re killing zombies or each other.”
The season aired seven episodes, earned 92% on Rotten Tomatoes from 270 critics, and received a Metacritic score of 81, with reviewers calling it one of the best television dramas of 2025. HBO had renewed the show for Season 3 before Season 2 had even aired, confirming the series’ standing at the network.
Two Emmy Nominations and a Historic First
When the 77th Emmy nominations were announced on July 15, 2025, Ramsey received their second nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series — and made Television Academy history in doing so.
Bella Ramsey became the first openly non-binary performer to receive more than one Emmy nomination from the Television Academy.
Their first nomination came at the 75th Emmys in 2023, where they lost to Sarah Snook for Succession. At the 77th ceremony, held on September 14, 2025, the category featured:
| Nominee | Series |
|---|---|
| Kathy Bates | Matlock |
| Sharon Horgan | Bad Sisters |
| Britt Lower | Severance — WINNER |
| Bella Ramsey | The Last of Us |
| Keri Russell | The Diplomat |
Britt Lower took home the Emmy for her performance in Apple TV+’s Severance. Ramsey did not win, but the nomination itself carried weight beyond any individual award. Across two seasons, The Last of Us has accumulated 40 total Emmy nominations and won eight in 2024.
Ramsey has also appeared on Time magazine’s Time 100 Next list (2023) and the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list (2024), and in 2025 became the second openly non-binary person to receive a wax figure at Madame Tussauds.
On the ongoing question of whether gendered Emmy categories serve non-binary performers fairly, Ramsey has been measured and honest: “I think it is important that we have a female category,” they told Louis Theroux in May 2025, while acknowledging they have “literally sat and tried to think my way to the answer and haven’t got there.”
Season 3 and What Comes Next
Ramsey confirmed to Variety that they expect a reduced role in Season 3, in line with how the source material handles Ellie in the second half of The Last of Us Part II.
“I haven’t seen any scripts, but yes, I do expect that,” they said. “I think that I’m going to be there, but not a whole bunch.”
Co-creator Neil Druckmann has departed the series to return to Naughty Dog full-time, with Craig Mazin continuing as showrunner.
The Short Answer — and the Longer One
For the NYT Mini Crossword clue “Ramsey of ‘The Last of Us'”: the answer is BELLA. Behind that clue is an actor who has spent a decade quietly earning one of the most prominent roles in television, delivered a performance in Season 2 that critics called the best of her career, and made Emmy history twice before turning 22.
