'The Last of Us' star Storm Reid reacts to viewer backlash over LGBTQ+ relationships: 'Get your priorities straight'

• Storm Reid stars in "The Last of Us" season one, episode seven as Riley.
• The 19-year-old actor reacted to the backlash over the LGBTQ+ storylines in the series.

"The Last of Us" episode seven delivered yet another emotional turn in HBO's post-apocalyptic series, taking inspiration from the 2013 game's DLC, "Left Behind." It's set while Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is training to be a FEDRA officer, and before she knows that she's immune to the Cordyceps virus.

The episode introduces Storm Reid as Riley, Ellie's best friend who runs away from the Boston Quarantine Zone to join the Fireflies, only to return to show Ellie an abandoned mall. The pair are finally honest about their feelings for each other, sharing a kiss before an infected man attacks and bites them both.

This isn't the first time the show has put an LGBTQ+ relationship front and center, as fans were brought to tears by Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) in episode three. However, there was backlash from some sections of the audience online.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reid had some words for anyone complaining about these storylines.

The actor said: "It's 2023. If you're concerned about who I love, then I need you to get your priorities straight. There's so many other things to worry about in life. Why are you concerned that these young people — or anybody — love each other? Love is beautiful, and the fact that people have things to say about it, it's just nonsense."

Reid went on to say that the representation in the show is largely why she took the role in the first place.

She said: "I'm not only representing women. I'm representing young Black women and I'm representing young queer women that are experiencing new feelings and new relationships."

The "Euphoria" and "Missing" star praised the "complexity" of the episode, and also called the relationship between Ellie and Riley "beautiful."

"We are on the tightrope of a friendship and having a crush, or is it a crush? Is it just flirtatious energy? There's just so much that goes into the complexity of what the episode is. And furthermore, the complexity of what Ellie and Riley's relationship is I find just so beautiful," Reid said.

Reid reiterated she doesn't care about the backlash, saying: "I'm proud of what we did and I'm proud of the story that we told and I'm proud of the people that we're representing."

Ellie actor Bella Ramsey previously spoke out against the review-bombing that the show received after episode three, saying that viewers angry over LGBTQ+ representation will just "have to get used to it."

"I know people will think what they want to think. But they're gonna have to get used to it. If you don't want to watch the show because it has gay storylines, because it has a trans character, that's on you, and you're missing out," Ramsey said.