Week after week, The Last of Us has featured performances from the video game’s original actors. Merle Dandrige reprised her role as Firefly leader Marlene. Jeffrey Pierce, who played Tommy in the games, showed up in Kansas City as Kathleen’s (Melanie Lynskey) henchman Perry. And in episode 8, original Joel actor Troy Baker took on the sinister role of cannibal James.
Each of these three characters met brutal ends throughout the series, but the award for most brutal end of them all — and most heartbreaking appearance — goes to Ashley Johnson in The Last of Us Season 1 finale.
Who does Ashley Johnson play in The Last of Us show?
Johnson, who originated the role of Ellie (played in the show by Bella Ramsey), takes on the role of Ellie’s mother Anna. We don’t meet Anna in the games, but Ellie does carry around a letter from her mother that tells her to make her proud.
When we meet Anna in the show, she is mid-labor. She runs through the woods to a Firefly safe house, where she hopes to escape a pursuing Stalker infected with the Cordyceps fungus. Unfortunately, the Stalker gets into the house and attacks Anna as she gives birth. It’s only after Anna kills the Stalker that she realizes she’s been bitten. Her infection while still attached to Ellie by her umbilical cord is the reason for Ellie’s immunity.
Anna’s death ranks among The Last of Us‘s cruelest tragedies. She only just gets to meet her child before getting infected. The precious few moments she shares with Ellie are sweet, though obviously still tinged with sorrow. “You tell ’em,” she whispers lovingly as Ellie lets out her first wails. “You fucking tell ’em, Ellie.” She admires Ellie’s toughness and reassures her that she’s got her.
Later, when Marlene and the other Fireflies return to the safe house, they find Anna holding Ellie and singing A-ha’s “The Sun Always Shines on TV” — a song that would have been on Ellie’s A-ha cassette tape that we see in episode 7. It’s a touching detail that links present-day Ellie to Anna, even though Ellie doesn’t have any conscious memories of her mother.
Anna persuades Marlene to shoot her before she turns, but not before she makes her promise to care for Ellie. She also gives Marlene her own switchblade — the one she used to kill the Stalker and cut her umbilical cord — to give to Ellie when she grows up. It’s the same switchblade Ellie goes on to use throughout the show.
While the scene is full of these connections between Anna and Ellie, the greatest gift of all is Johnson herself. As the original Ellie, she helped create the character we know and love today. Positioning her as Ellie’s mother in the show pays tribute to that: Just as there would be no The Last of Us show without the video game, there would be no Ellie without Johnson.
Seeing Johnson as Anna so lovingly care for the show’s version of baby Ellie highlights her deep emotional connection to the character. It also comes across as a welcome to a new take on Ellie — a passing of the torch from Johnson to Ramsey, one Ellie to another. Apart from Dandridge fully reprising her role, it’s the clearest way the show lifts up its source material, celebrating what came before while continuing to branch out and adapt the game in its own way.
Season 1 of The Last of Us is now streaming on HBO Max.(Opens in a new tab)
