Bella Ramsey revealing Aniston’s 2003 PEOPLE magazine cover in the Season 2 premiere follows recent buzz about the actress sparking dating rumors with Pedro Pascal.
There’s a popular saying that only Twinkies and roaches would survive the apocalypse—but it looks like Jennifer Aniston is joining that list too.
The Friends star showed she could laugh about it after discovering she’d apparently make it to the other side, at least according to HBO’s horror hit The Last of Us. In the Season 2 premiere on April 13, Bella Ramsey’s Ellie stumbles upon a 2003 issue of PEOPLE magazine, with Aniston flashing her iconic smile on the cover.
Advertisement “Of all the things to survive the apocalypse 🤣,” Aniston wrote on her Instagram story Tuesday, sharing a video of Ellie flipping through the “Best & Worst Dressed” issue. She also tagged the show’s official account with a playful “👀” emoji.
In the episode—written and directed by co-showrunner Craig Mazin—Ellie and Dina (played by Isabela Merced) are out on patrol when they stumble into a looted store. While exploring, Ellie falls through the floor into a basement, where she discovers the magazine, notably dated 2003—the year the pandemic that triggered the show’s societal collapse began.
Aniston has never made an appearance on the post-apocalyptic drama, which is based on the video game series created by Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley and originally released in 2013. However, it’s not her only tie to the show.
Just last month, she fueled romance rumors with Pedro Pascal, who stars alongside Bella Ramsey. The two were seen leaving the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood together.
Their connection dates back to early last year when Aniston and Pascal crossed paths at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards. Pascal playfully interrupted an interview Aniston and Reese Witherspoon were giving about their AppleTV+ hit The Morning Show. During the exchange, Aniston asked, “Do you want to be on it?” When Pascal wondered if his role would include “anything romantic with anybody,” Aniston quipped, “All of us.”
Aniston, known for her work in sitcoms and occasional ventures into darker roles like The Morning Show, would need to tap into a completely different skillset to take on The Last of Us, a series known for its intense and unrelenting tone. The much-anticipated second season has leaned even further into the darkness and emotional weight of the first, reaching a peak with Sunday’s shocking development involving Pascal’s Joel.
Speaking about the twist in Entertainment Weekly’s recent digital cover story for the show, Bella Ramsey shared, “I think it was a hushed thing, like scary words that no one wants to utter. It feels like too big of a thing to just speak about it.”
New episodes of The Last of Us Season 2 air every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and Max.
Source: EW