The Last of Us fans are involved in a huge debate online after reports claimed that Pedro Pascal was paid 750 percent more than co-lead Bella Ramsey.
The pair starred alongside one another as Joel and Ellie in the hit HBO series, an adaptation of the Naughty Dog game that follows a smuggler as he’s tasked with transporting a teenage girl across a post-apocalyptic United States.
The result was one of the best video game adaptations in years – if not ever, with figures peaking for the season finale with a whopping 8.2 million viewers across all platforms for HBO.
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The project was a huge one for the entertainment giant, which reportedly splashed out between $10 and $15 million per episode.
Its two lead actors are also believed to have been paid handsomely – though not equally, according to a number of outlets.
While never confirmed, a 2021 report from Variety stated that Pascal was paid $600,000 an episode for his turn as Joel.
Ramsey, on the other hand, is thought to have been paid a fraction of that. While she was not included in the Variety report for comparison, according to Showbiz Galore she made $70,000 for each instalment.
Of course, $70k isn’t exactly a bad pay day (especially when you’ve got nine episodes, making a total of $630,000), but fans couldn’t help but notice it’s drastically different to Pascal’s pay, which supposedly marks a 757 percent increase.
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Commenting on Twitter, some people argued that Pascal was a bigger and more established star than Ramsey, suggesting the hike was to some degree fair.
However, others noted that they both led on the series and that Ramsey was also a huge name from Game of Thrones.
One tweeted: “If that's the real gap it is pretty vast, Bella was also a big name on GOT a hugely popular character. I think he should get more he probably brought his experience to every scene, but Bella did an amazing job also.
"I guess Bella was more interchangeable than Pedro at casting.”
Someone else said: “I do think she should be paid a lot more next season but to be fair he is a veteran actor who has a lot more experience and she is just getting her breakthrough.”
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Another wrote: "Well that's what happens when one actor has 30 years of experience and some major roles, and the other is somebody whose name and face I've never heard or seen in my life."
A fourth added: “Pay people the same money for the same work? To everyone arguing Pedro is more established, would you want your (male) coworker who has worked at the company 30 years longer but does the same work as you to be paid more? No? That‘s what we call gender pay gap.”
UNILAD has contacted representatives for Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey for comment, and has also reached out to HBO.
Topics: The Last of Us, Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, HBO