THE LAST OF US Voice Actor Ashley Johnson Says Bella Ramsey "Elevated" Ellie's Role in The Series

Ashley Johnson is the voice actor who played Ellie in The Last of Us video game franchise, and it was so cool to see her appear in the season finale of the HBO series. She was perfectly cast as Ellie’s mother in the episode’s intense and heartbreaking intro.

It’s pretty crazy how much the two actors actually look like each other! Casting Johnson as Ellie’s mom, Anna, was definitely the right choice to make. During a recent interview with GamesRadar, Johnson talked about Bella Ramsey’s live-action version of the character and how she believes she has "elevated" the role. She explained:

"Because of the depth and talent that Bella has. I feel like she's elevated it. I feel like she's brought so much more to Ellie than we were able to do in the game.”

"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, and it's cathartic. It makes me so happy to sort of see this character grow even more and have more of a say in her own life in a way."

Johnson also talks about a "connection" to Ramsey thanks to their shared love of the character, and also praised the actor’s performance, saying:

"I don't feel like anybody else could have done this part. I finally watched the last episode and she's so fucking good. She absolutely blows me away. It's gonna sound so weird – I feel so proud of her. I feel a connection to her, I think because we both love this character. And I think there's so much of her that already is Ellie… I feel a massive connection to Bella and I am so blown away by what she's done. What an incredible actor."

While there were a lot of silly complaints by fans about the casting of Ramsey, she was awesome in the role of Ellie and delivered such an incredible performance alongside Pedro Pascal.

Also, what an incredible season finale!