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Ashley Johnson, the voice actress for Ellie in the Last of Us video game series, cried
"projectile tears" when she was offered the role of Ellie's mother in the HBO show.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ and other assembled media at a recent roundtable, Johnson said that Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann actually text her to ask if she'd be interested in playing the new character.
"Yeah, he just texted and said 'Hey, Craig [Mazin] and I have been talking and, would you like to play Ellie's mom?' and I was just ... projectile tears. I was just like 'What? Are you serious?'," says Johnson.
Ellie's mom, Anna, is a brand new character for The Last of Us TV show, with her only otherwise referenced in notes and a short conversation in the games themselves. Instead, the TV show gives Anna the spotlight at the opening of the final episode, in a harrowing scene that - for the first time - explains how Ellie has gained her immunity.
"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," she adds, drawing parallels between her experience of bringing Ellie to life in the game, and now again in the TV show in a very different way.
"It's just wild to me - voice actors generally don't get into the fold of putting something on screen. I'm so grateful and so happy, and I had a blast shooting it."
The Last of Us TV show finale has now aired on both HBO Max in the US and Sky Atlantic/NOW in the UK. For more from the series, check out our guide to the major Last of Us episode 9 changes from the games and a terrifying look at the Cordyceps fungus.
