Ashley Johnson based Anna on both Ellie from The Last of Us video game and Bella Ramsey from the show

The Last of Us is one of the most famous video game franchises of all time. Hence when the TV adaptation was announced a few years ago, a lot of fans got really excited, and had high expectations for the series. The original actors from the game are in awe of the show’s casting, including Ashley Johnson, who played Ellie in The Last of Us video game.

How Ashley Johnson relates to both Bella Ramsey and Ellie?

In a recent interview with Deadline, Johnson said that her portrayal of Ellie’s mom Anna was inspired by both her experience of playing Ellie and Bella Ramsey’s portrayal of the character. She said, “I feel like what I just wanted to have come across is, I played her kind of similar to my performance of Ellie in a way because I feel like there’s, with getting to know Bella [Ramsey] and hanging out with her, we have a lot of same mannerisms, and we’re similar in weird little ways, and I tried to watch a little bit of her [in the show] to try to match some of her mannerisms.”

What is the significance of Anna’s letter to Ellie?

Johnson also talked about the emotional last letter Anna wrote to Ellie before she died, “In the game, there’s a letter that Anna writes that Ellie keeps in her backpack. And I wrote that letter out and just kept it in my pocket as kind of a reminder to myself of where this character came from and sort of the history of that. But most of it was just like, you know what? I’m going to bring my version of what I did with Ellie [in the game] and also little bits of Bella. That was it.”

When does The Last of Us Season 2 begin filming?

In a recent interview with Collider, Pascal said, “In the year 2023? Oh, what season are we in now? We’re getting into spring? Yes, there is a chance. Yes.” The first season of The Last of Us took around 18 months to film. So, looking at the time gap, there’s a high probability that the second season won’t be here until 2025.

Read next: Ashley Johnson cried “projectile tears” when called on to play Ellie’s mom in The Last of Us