The Last of Us show's Ellie was "encouraged not to" play the game

Bella Ramsey – who plays Ellie in HBO's upcoming The Last of Us TV adaptation - was advised not to play the game ahead of joining the show.

During her audition for the part, Ramsey was asked if she'd played any of Naughty Dog's critically-acclaimed game. When she answered honestly - "nope" - she was apparently "encouraged" not to.

"I was actually encouraged not to," Ramsey told USA Today. "After my first audition, they asked me, 'Have you played it?' And I said 'nope', and they said, 'Keep it that way'.

"I did watch some of the gameplay on YouTube just to get a sense of it," she added.

"But I'm so excited for it to come out – it was such a big part of my life," she said. "I shot for a whole year, which is quite a long time when you've only lived for 19 years.

"Pedro wrote a little card to me at the end, saying, 'How interesting that something so huge and life-changing should happen so early in your life and so late in mine'. I thought it was a really sweet observation and I just had the best time."

ICYMI, HBO recently treated us to our first teaser trailer for The Last of Us.

This new trailer gives us all a closer look at Ellie and Joel in action as they make their way across America. Along with seeing more of the two protagonists, we now also have a better, but still brief look at the series' infected Clickers - complete with their unmistakable and haunting noises. Other characters such as Ellie's friend Riley also make a showing.

The Last of Us is set to release in 2023.