Whom is Ashley Johnson playing in HBO’s ‘The Last of Us?’

One of the things that have fans so excited about the HBO adaptation of PlayStation’s critically acclaimed video game franchise, The Last of Us, is how they are striving to make it accurate to the source material. The series, which will be released on HBO Max on Jan. 15, 2023, is being helmed by Craig Mazin, the creator behind Chernobyl, and Neil Druckmann, the current co-president of Naughty Dog, the developer of The Last of Us games, and one of the directors of both The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II. 

The trailer for the series shows off just how accurate the show will be. We see locations from The Last of Us and The Last of Us: Left Behind as well as the iconic characters from those games. Two major changes in the show are that the two protagonists, Joel and Ellie, have been recast from voice actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson to Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, respectively. However, they have not been excluded from the cast with both Johnson and Baker appearing in the trailer, and Johnson seemingly having a pivotal role in the series.

Ashley Johnson’s mystery role in The Last of Us

Johnson appears in the trailer holding a baby in her arms. It would be pretty weird for her to appear in that context and for her not to be playing Ellie’s mother, Anna Williams. We will not reveal what happens to Anna in the video games as it might spoil the series, but it does seem like we will be getting more of her in the show than we did in the games. 

It is a nice nod that they gave the role of Ellie’s mother to the actress that gave birth to the character with her performance in the video game, that is if she is actually playing Anna. Both Baker and Johnson are set to appear at The Game Awards, so she might let something slip there, or we will have to wait until the series comes out for confirmation.

We will get every opportunity to see just how accurate HBO’s adaptation will be when The Last of Us comes to HBO Max on Jan. 15, 2023.