Bella Ramsey knows must-see-TV. After getting their start playing a fierce child warrior on Game of Thrones, HBO’s 19-year-old secret weapon captivated the world again with The Last of Us. It’s “absolutely terrifying” to know millions are watching them slay fungus-infected hordes opposite Pedro Pascal, Ramsey says—but it’s also the only life they can imagine. “I felt immediately at home on set. It’s the first time I ever felt I properly belonged somewhere. It wasn’t even like, ‘I want to do it forever’—I was like, ‘I have to.’ There’s no other option.”

BORN IN Nottingham, England, Ramsey and their sister found acting through a children’s charity. “Nobody in my family were actors, but we are all very creative.”

THE TROUPE got Ramsey their Game of Thrones audition. “It was weird, suddenly having no friends at school to everyone wanting to be my friend. I saw right through it, though. I think they thought I was being a diva by not spilling the beans. But I was scared. I mean, I signed NDAs!”

LAST YEAR, they played the titular role of Lena Dunham’s film Catherine Called Birdy. “I’d done a lot of dark, depressing things. A comedy was nice, and I’d never met anybody like Lena. I wish our brains could spend time together more and again. She’s just so interesting.”

THEY WERE NOT a gamer growing up. “Though I quickly learned the impact [The Last of Us] had. I’d heard of it because I saw a clickbait thing talking about it being the first lesbian kiss in a video game. I thought, Oh, that’s cool.”

THEY START production on season two as soon as the end of this year. “It’s darker. It’s really a story about revenge, and a continuation from the first season about the dangers of unconditional love.”

THEY’RE LEARNING to share Pascal with the internet, now that he’s been dubbed its “daddy.” “I very much played into it at the beginning, but now I’m worried it’s gone too far. I don’t know whether he’s still loving it; I need to ask him. He’s a global phenomenon as he should be, because he’s pretty spectacular.”

UP NEXT, they’ll star in the BBC series Time. “It’s set in a women’s prison. Big comedy, a laugh a minute,” they joke. “It is incredibly dark, but there’s more hope than I anticipated.”

THEY’RE CURRENTLY taking a course in environmental science as well. “I have to support the things that resonate with me, and I wanted to learn about it properly. I’m very, very grateful and aware of the immense privilege that I have to be able to talk about things openly, and that people will listen.”

THEY’RE AT A POINT where they have the power to choose what projects they want to make. “I want complex people, real people, but I never have specifics in mind. If a script comes through, suddenly, then, I’ll be like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s who I was wanting to play, I never knew what I was missing!’ It’s an instinctual feeling, a visceral reaction. Like acting.”