Ashley Johnson

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.

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.

Posted March 14, 2023, 12:31 a.m.. 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. "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."

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.