Isabela Merced didn't have chemistry test with Bella Ramsey for The Last of Us season 2

That's if the HBO version of TLOU follows the main story beats of its source material, anyway.

Like what we've seen so far in episode 1 at the time of writing, the equivalent events of the game see Ellie and Dina head off on a perilous cross-country adventure to face off against dangerous new enemies like Abby.

Although the season's trailer seems to show that we might be spending some more episodes in Jackson first, the best friends turned romantic interests will nevertheless have many scenes together in the meantime and afterward.

While you might think some initial actor-to-actor experimentation through a screen test might be required, Ramsey has revealed that wasn't the case.

In fact, it wasn't needed for her time with Pedro Pascal as Joel in season 1 either.

Speaking to Radio Times at the recent Last of Us press event ahead of season 2's launch, we asked the Ellie actress if she and Merced did a chemistry test or if it was along the lines of 'here's your new person!', and Ramsey's answer was quite surprising.

"Yeah, it was like that. No chemistry test," said Ramsey.

"Same as season 1, me and Pedro were just like, 'Here you go, spend the rest of the year together and like each other,' which we did, thankfully.

"And same with me and Isabella, we were very much just, like, thrown into it, and yeah, relied on each other heavily throughout the whole thing, as you always do with someone that you're working with that closely," she explained further.

In a way, this is quite a delight to hear when thinking about how this reflects on the relationship between actors and their project's creators.

The Last of Us co-creators and showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, instead of just putting two actors together — and immediately expecting them to give the dual performance needed to decide if it will work — had enough faith in the talents of those actors that they would build the necessary chemistry themselves over time.

As a bonus to this method that we've seen in season 1, Ellie and Joel's well-performed relationship in the Last of Us series's first outing has a higher degree of authenticity due to Ramsey and Pascal's real-life friendship.

Going from father figure Joel to a friendship and romance with Dina in season 2, Ramsey also mentioned to us how this new relationship does even more for Ellie's character in season 2.

She said, "Yeah, it's a really nice thread throughout the season, Ellie and Dina. And I think it's really nice to see Ellie in, sort of, a different dynamic of relationship.

"Because, obviously, we literally just mostly saw Ellie and Joel [in] season 1. And so for now, for Ellie to be in sort of a romantic-ish thing and have a crush on someone, I think it's a really sort of cool thing to see.

"And I think [it] makes her seem more like a well-rounded teenager, and one that's relatable, not just in the apocalyptic world, [but] in today's world. And yeah, that relationship was so special and was really fun to play," Ramsey clarified.

As far as season 2 goes so far with episode 1, the lack of chemistry test between Ramsey and Merced has worked out for the show once again — with Ellie and Dina's dance scene at Jackon's New Year's Eve party portraying enough believability for their new blossoming relationship as it did in TLOU Part 2.

Although we've got a lot more to see from the new members of The Last of Us season 2's cast, Merced has so far proven to be a great love interest for the live-action Ellie.

The Last of Us season 2 is now showing on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

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