Ashley Johnson is excited to see Ellie and Dina’s romance in The Last of Us Season 2

HBO’s latest blockbuster The Last of Us is already in the pre-production phase of Season 2. No one can deny the fact that the show has exceeded a lot of expectations, and HBO’s one of the most expensive shows to have been ever made is certainly paid its worth. The video game’s original actors also received a heartfelt nod in the show, including Ashley Johnson, who played Ellie in the game, portraying Anna, Ellie’s mom, in the season finale.

Ashley Johnson wants to see Bella Ramsey’s version of Ellie & Dina’s relationship

In one of her recent interviews with Deadline, Johnson expressed what she is looking forward to seeing in Season 2, “In thinking about Episode 7 with Storm Reid and Bella going to the mall and having that moment of being able to be kids … you get to see them smile and be happy. I’m excited to see those moments in Season 2 with Dina and see Bella’s version [of that romance].”

“Bella was so beautiful in those moments that she would steal while looking at Riley and the moments of overwhelming feelings that she’s having in her body until she just has to look away [from her]. I can’t wait to see how she does that with Dina and how that relationship is going to come to life onscreen.”

The Last of Us Season 1’s ending hit Ashley Johnson “really hard”

She went on to describe how she felt about the season finale, “After seeing all that [intense] stuff with David in Episode 8, we can see that all that anger and violence is still there. And, I think that’s something that if you know the second game … I feel like that was set up very well. And even in the last episode from the hospital and seeing what Joel does, the fact that the show is not the gameplay, watching it as an audience member, I was devastated at what he was doing.”

“Because we know who those people are now, and that group of people [related to the hospital incident] were just trying to do good in the world. So it was harder for me to watch [the ending] because it wasn’t like I was playing though, and then I would die, and then I’d have to come back and die again. So you lose yourself a little bit in the story of the show, and it just hit me in a really hard way where even knowing that this ending was coming, it still hit me hard. I can’t imagine what it’s like processing that ending for somebody who doesn’t know. Anyway, I am excited for Season 2 and what they do with it.”

When will The Last of Us Season 2 arrive?

On her latest visit to The Jonathan Ross Show, Bella Ramsey talked about the approximate release date of Season 2 of The Last of Us. She/they said, “It will be a while. I think we’ll probably shoot at the end of this year, the beginning of next. So it’ll probably be the end of 2024, early 2025.”