Ashley Johnson

The Last of Us video game star Ashley Johnson was blown away by Bella Ramsey's portrayal of Ellie in the HBO series.

"It’s heartbreaking because I know that life doesn’t get better for them, and she is just so beautiful to watch because even in just these subtle moments there’s so much going on. "Sometimes it will be different radically, and sometimes it [won't] be fairly different at all, but it's going to be different. So ride along as we go through all of the biggest video game releases you’ll be able to play on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC in March 2023.Also, you can browse the IGN Playlist of all the biggest titles launching in March. "She was exploring sides of her that will make sense for Season 2 because where the second game goes is even darker and heavier," Johnson said. "I’m sure there’s pressure for anybody to take on a character that people know well, and I think she’s killed it." "It has been such a joy to watch her because she’s so good.

Bella Ramsey was stepping into some incredibly big shoes when she was cast as Ellie in HBO's The Last of Us. In the games, the character is played by Ashley ...

Ramsey nailed her performance in the first season, but anyone that’s played The Last of Us Part II will know that she’ll have to step it up another notch for where Ellie’s story goes. Johnson has played Ellie over multiple games now and would be a lock for any future The Last of Us Part II sequel so she’s understandably protective of her. One of the first scenes we shot is the truck ambush and in the game you get pulled out of the truck and you’re wrestling with this guy until Joel comes and saves you.

The Last of Us' Ellie game actor Ashley Johnson has admitted it was a "surprise" to be asked to appear in the HBO series. Johnson, who plays Ellie's mom ...

For more from the series, check out our guide to the major "And so [Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann] came to me and was like, ‘Hey man, I got a role for you.’ I'm like, ‘Oh dude, thank you.’ And I thought it was looking to be like a clicker or something. And he goes, ‘I want you to play James.’ And I went, ‘Oh my God, thank you, man... "Because I'm sure you all know that, most of the time with a video game adaptation to screen, generally the video game voice actors or motion capture artists, they don't also go into the fold." I didn't expect it. I really wasn't anticipating it.

Co-creator Neil Druckmann reveals why original Ellie actor Ashley Johnson was nervous about her role as Ellie's mother on HBO's The Last Of Us.

Part of the brilliance of The Last of Us' finale is that it presents a genuinely confounding moral dilemma to which there is no easy answer. Spoilers ahead for The Last Of Us season 1 finale.](https://screenrant.com/tag/the-last-of-us/) [](https://screenrant.com/tag/the-last-of-us/) [The Last of Us](https://screenrant.com/tag/the-last-of-us/) co-creator Neil Druckmann explains why Ashley Johnson, who voiced Ellie in the video games, was nervous about appearing in the hit HBO adaptation. Joel acts as an interesting flip side to this coin, essentially willing to doom the future of humanity in order to keep Ellie alive. [The Last Of Us' season 1 finale](https://screenrant.com/last-us-finale-ending-joel-choices-showrunner-explained/), with the former explaining that Johnson was initially nervous about her role. Joel quickly realizes, however, that making a cure from Ellie's blood will involve killing her in the process, something that eventually leads him to go on a rampage through the hospital. I think that kind of gave her some ease to say, 'Okay, someone else is watching me, someone else who really loves and cares about these characters,' and I told her, 'Just do what you do, which is collaborate.'

Following their performances in The Last of Us on HBO and HBO Max, many are wondering if Ashley Johnson and Bella Ramsey are related.

No, Ashley Johnson and Bella Ramsey are not related to one another in real life. Audiences noted just how great a job the casting team had done with Johnson and Ramsey, saying that they were similar in both their mannerisms and looks, even down to their voices. [The Last of Us](/tag/the-last-of-us/) concluded its first season on [HBO](/tag/hbo/) with Episode 9, which introduced Ellie’s mother Anna Williams, played by renowned voice actor Ashley Johnson.

The performance was made to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women, but also coincided with Ashley Johnson-Barr Day.

Those involved say it was important to the Anchorage Opera for this production of the American premiere of “Missing” to be Indigenous-led and cast. Scotty Barr says he hopes that he’s able to help slow the epidemic in this country that he says has been going on for centuries. “I want people to know that we’re as human as they are,” Long said. Wilson was [sentenced to 99 years](https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2021/09/21/you-took-her-away-me-kotzebue-man-sentenced-99-years-murder-ashley-johnson-barr/?fbclid=IwAR1Gi2ZAhk9ySs1xDTdtlAfTunx_zA4QhBDx4peEDFyIGgDRhGTGaj5wabE) in prison in Sept. “Continue to be a voice for our daughter to bring more action and more awareness to anything else that we can to help families around the state, around the lower 48, as well as around the world,” Barr said. [abducted and found dead in 2018](https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/content/news/Ashley-Johnson-Barr-discovered-dead-in-Kotzebue-493358841.html).

Ashely Johson, the voice behind Ellie in The Last of Us games, has revealed her favorite moment from both The Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2 - and it might ...

And I can't wait for that moment in the second season because I think even being able to just to see [Bella Ramsey] do that, because what she's able to emote just through her eyes, just her subtle looks - she's so good. For more from the series, check out our guide to the major And it's a moment from The Last of Us Part 2. "I think those little moments of tenderness that you see in this world really stand out to me, because those are moments that are kind of hard to find. I can't wait to see what she does with that scene - both of them. They take a tour of an old museum, complete with dinosaur skeletons that you can place a fedora on, but the pièce de résistance is the space exhibition hidden further in.

Ashley Johnson gave us a brilliant performance as Ellie's mom in The Last of Us, and it acted as an emotional full circle moment for the actor.

Ellie's voice actress from the original game returned to pay respect to the heroine in her own special way, and she was ecstatic to do it.

The layers of being able to play Ellie's mom and the metaphor of bringing her into the world and being the first person to fight to keep her alive," says Johnson. Laura Bailey, who was the motion capture and voice actor for Abby in The Last of Us Part II, also appeared as one of the nurses at the Salt Lake City hospital. Not only that, she was given an opportunity that voice actors rarely ever have, to fill the shoes of essentially a new character that directly impacts the life of the character she originally played. On top of that, the finale revealed the origin of Ellie's birth and her mysterious immunity to the cordyceps fungal infection. Anna was a character that did not appear in the original game, only briefly referenced, mostly by Marlene in audio recordings near the end of the game. Yet another record number of viewers tuned in to watch the end of Joel and Ellie's painstaking journey to Salt Lake City, where some impossibly heavy personal choices were made between the two of them upon meeting Marlene and The Fireflies at the city hospital.

The Last of Us Season 1 finale introduced Ashley Johnson, Ellie's voice actor in the video games, but role in the HBO series will break fans' hearts.

While Ashley Johnson will always be Ellie in the original video game series, her live-action debut in the HBO adaptation as Anna is still deeply tied to Ellie. As Ellie's mother, Anna loves Ellie in a special way that creates a fascinating dynamic that is short-lived in the show. Now, there's no way for them to ever have a meaningful interaction as part of the series. Anna was always doomed to die based on the needs of the narrative. Ellie reveals early on in the series that she is an orphan who was left to be raised in the FEDRA system as a baby without any family. Ashley Johnson is a wonderful actress, and her work as the original Ellie is a significant part of what makes the entire series so remarkable and iconic. Marlene reluctantly kills her best friend, tragically foreshadowing how Ellie will one day have to shoot her own best friend for the same reason. She is a member of the Fireflies, Marlene's best friend, and most importantly, she is Ellie's mother. During the attack, Anna is able to kill the clicker, but not before she is bitten. Johnson was introduced in the cold open of the Season 1 finale, Episode 9 "Look For the Light" as a pregnant woman named Anna fleeing from a clicker. The decrepit farmhouse, however, isn't fortified enough to keep the clicker away, and eventually it is able to attack her. She wasn't the original actor for the character, though, as someone else played her first for the video game series.

Ellie's game actor has high praise for her TV counterpart.

Original Ellie actress Ashley Johnson on appearing in HBO's The Last of Us, Bella Ramsey, and the season finale/video game comparisons.

Being able to still be a part of this story and this world and to also be the first character that fights for this character to live means the world." Just being on set and seeing the Clickers in person and having all the prosthetics, it was a really fun time shooting this." And being able to do scenes with Merle [Dandridge] and having that reconnection from the scenes we did in the game. It's not lost on me the layers of being able to play Ellie's mother and be the one to literally give birth and bring her into the world." As Anna is fighting to conceive Ellie on her own, the mother was bitten by an infected in the process. She has the essence of Ellie.

The Last of Us' original Ellie actor, Ashley Johnson, heaps praise upon Bella Ramsey's lead performance, calling her "an incredible actor."

This reaction speaks well of The Last of Us as a whole. By digging deeper into the characters, Mazin and Druckmann, with the help of incredible performers like Ramsey, have elevated the Last of Us TV show to heights beyond what the game could convey. [GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/ashley-johnson-bella-ramsey-ellie-praise/)). Continuing the trend of video game actors appearing in the HBO show version, Johnson joined The Last of Us season 1 finale to play Ellie’s late mother, Anna, in a flashback. "I feel like there have been so many moments and scenes where Ellie has been able to say things that I feel like I never got to, where she's been able to stand up for herself and stand up to Joel or stand up to anybody around her. Johnson originated the role of Ellie in the Last of Us video game.

Ashley Johnson (original Ellie) was crying 'projectile tears' when showrunner Neil Druckmann called her to play Ellie's mom.

[drop us a message here](https://wikiofthrones.com/contact-us). Yes.” The first season of The Last of Us took around 18 months to film. [Collider](https://collider.com/last-of-us-season-2-pedro-pascal-comments/), Pascal said, “In the year 2023? The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann has previously described his satisfaction on including her in the show, because he couldn’t explore her storyline in the game. “It’s just wild to me – voice actors generally don’t get into the fold of putting something on screen. HBO’s The Last of Us has proved itself to be the most successful video game adaptation to have ever been made.