It’s hard not to feel instantly protective of Bella Ramsey. The actor has just turned 20 when we meet in London, where they (Ramsey uses they/them pronouns) moved into a flat only a month ago. How did the Emmy-nominated star celebrate their first birthday away from home? A two-hour drive back to Nottinghamshire to catch up with family.
Now returned to their new city, Ramsey is dressed head to toe in Depop finds (bar the socks) and looks impeccably cool in a baggy rugby top and chunky loafers, sipping a lime soda in a bar. They shrug off fame because “it’s all quite silly”, and say they still “want to do all the normal things”, despite being recognised every time they leave the house. It’s puzzling to reconcile this unassuming, barely-graduated person with the massive TV characters we know them for playing: from the sword-wielding Lady Lyanna in Game of Thrones to the monster-fighting Ellie in The Last of Us.
