Hollywood stars attend glitzy Season 2 premiere of The Last Of Us in Sydney
The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey led a star-studded event in Sydney overnight, as co-star Isabella Merced wowed the crowd in a plunging gown.
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The cast of two of the biggest shows on streaming right now walked the red carpet in Sydney on Wednesday night for a double celebration.
Leading the star-studded event at the State Theatre in the CBD, the stars of HBO hits The Last of Us and The White Lotus were all frocked up as they marked the Australian launch of streaming service Max.
The evening was the Season 2 launch event for The Last Of Us, with its stars Bella Ramsey, Isabela Merced, Kaitlyn Dever, Gabriel Luna, Jeffrey Wright and Young Mazino all in attendance and excited for the April 14 premiere of the new season.
“[This season is] adrenaline-packed and emotional,” Ramsey, who plays Ellie in the post-apocalyptic thriller, tells news.com.au at the premiere.
The 21-year-old promised that the new season is “intense and complex” and is “a deeper exploration of what humans will do when faced with intense love and intense loss”.
Ramsey’s on-screen co-star Pedro Pascal, who plays hardened survivor Joel Miller, was not at the event. Fitting really, as this season the pair don’t share as many scenes together given their characters’ growing estrangement.
“I think that it will feel quite icky and unfamiliar, the Ellie/Joel dynamic in this season. It’s supposed to feel like that,” she says of how fans might take their fractured relationship.
“That will be explained and we’ll get to see why that is and see the progression of that too.”
Merced, whose character Dina forms a romantic connection with Ellie this season, also stunned on the red carpet in a plunging, frilled dress as she spoke to us about Season 2.
“I would say it’s emotional and it centres on love in its many forms and what it’s like even in the absence of it,” she said.
This wasn’t Merced’s first visit to Australia. The 23-year-old was on our shores back in 2019 to film Dora and the Lost City of Gold, the live-action adaptation of Dora the Explorer on which she played the title role.
“Gold Coast. Went to Movie World. Did it all,” she said of her time Down Under. “It was amazing. What an experience.”
And her Aussie adventures continued on this visit too.
“I went to Bronte Beach. I went and just laid out in the sun, met some babies, some cool Australian babies that I really liked,” she shared. “It was really sweet. It was really beautiful there.”
Stars of The White Lotus, Leslie Bibb, Morgana O’Reilly and Natasha Rothwell, were also there for support, with breakout star Patrick Schwarzenegger wowing fans trying to catch a glimpse of the celebs.
“I actually am shocked, I just can’t believe how big the show is here,” he told us of the series, which is now streaming on Max with the finale airing next Monday.
“I was walking down the street and it’s like everyone coming up [to me]. It’s crazy.”
The actor, who is the son of Hollywood legend Arnold Schwarzenegger, has some controversial scenes this season as rich-kid Saxon Ratliff.
Not only does Saxon share a kiss with his on-screen brother Lachlan (played by Sam Nivola), he also gets his kit off for another racy scene.
“[Creator] Mike White is just a genius writer. Everything serves the story,” Schwarzenegger said of the controversial scenes.
“I mean, what’s The White Lotus without some controversy, without Saxon doing some despicable things, some hilarious things. And it’s all part of the character ride.”
The new season is the first without White Lotus veteran Jennifer Coolidge, who won two Emmy Awards for Seasons 1 and 2 for her portrayal of Tanya McQuoid.
Her character was killed in Season 2 of the dark comedy, but she has nothing but love for the Season 3 cast.
“We’ve been in touch,” Natasha Rothwell, who played spa manager Belinda in Season 1 and who has returned for a bigger role in Season 3. “We’ve been in touch for a while and she’s such a wonderful supporter and she signed off her last text to me like, ‘Go get ‘em.’ So I think she’s feeling that I’m her representative this season.”
Playing Rothwell’s colleague on screen, New Zealand actress Morgana O’Reilly told news.com.au that she had a blast bringing Aussie “'health butler” Pam to life.
“I auditioned with her as an Australian character and then I asked [creator] Mike [White], ‘Do you want me to see if I can make her a Kiwi? It’s much more niche. You haven’t had a Kiwi on the show before,’” she recalled.
“And he sort of just said, ‘Oh yeah, I mean, sure, do whatever you want to do.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God. He doesn’t realise what a big decision that is. It’s so huge.’ I pained over it and pained over it, and she just was funnier as an Aussie, so I kept it there.”
In a recent interview with Vulture, co-star Jason Isaacs hinted at behind the scenes tension while filming in Thailand, describing the shoot as “part theatre camp, part prison camp” and dubbing it an “intense pressure cooker” with “much drama.”
In contrast, O’Reilly says she only has fond memories of her time on set.
“He is so dramatic. Prison camp. I don’t know. Is that what prison’s like? Not too bad,” she mused. “Yes, we called it the golden cage. It was amazing and beautiful. I’ve never experienced opulence like that, but while I was there I made sure to keep it real.”
Schwarzenegger, who plays Isaacs’ on-screen son, says that he too only had fond memories from the seven-month shoot.
“I had an amazing time. What’d he say? Prison time?” he asked.
“I didn’t get the prison [reference]. I mean, we were in a five-star hotel on the beach in beautiful Thailand. I loved it. I had an incredible time.”
The Last of Us Season 2 premieres exclusively on Max on Monday, April 14.
The White Lotus Season 3 is now streaming on Max, ahead of its final episode on Monday, April 7.
Originally published as Hollywood stars attend glitzy Season 2 premiere of The Last Of Us in Sydney
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