Ashley Johnson, who first played Ellie in The Last of Us, says Bella Ramsey’s performance in the role ‘blows me away’

Viewers have been blown away by young British actress Bella Ramsey’s breakout performance. So has one very important co-star.

Ashley Johnson says Bella Ramsey’s performance as Ellie The Last of Us – a character she first brought to life in the source material – has blown her away. Picture: Getty/HBO

WARNING: Spoilers for The Last of Us follow

Bella Ramsey’s performance in The Last of Us has drawn high praise from the person best qualified to judge it: the actress who first brought their character to life.

Ashley Johnson played Ellie, the 14-year-old girl who’s mysteriously immune to a civilisation-wrecking cordyceps fungus, in the 2013 video game whose story was adapted into season one of the HBO TV series, which streams locally on Binge.

She also portrayed Ellie in that game’s sequel, The Last of Us Part II, which is likely to serve as the basis for seasons two and three of the show.

Fans of the game series would have recognised Johnson immediately in Monday’s season finale, which featured her as Ellie’s mother, Anna. In a brutal flashback sequence, we saw her give birth to Ellie – an appropriate role, one might say, for the actress who figuratively gave birth to the character and turned her into an icon.

Before The Last of Us Ramsey, who identifies as non-binary (though they don’t particularly mind which pronouns people use), was best known for their scene-stealing role as Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones, and for starring in the film adaptation of Catherine Called Birdy last year.

Their casting as Ellie brought with it a new level of public pressure.

It also prompted doubts from some longtime fans of the franchise, who were understandably attached to, and protective of, Johnson’s version of the character (Ramsey doesn’t look much like the game’s Ellie and their voice is entirely different).

Those doubts quickly evaporated when people saw Ramsey on screen.

“I just love Bella so much. I think she’s an unbelievable actor,” Johnson says.

“She blows me away. There have been so many scenes where I’m just, like, she’s an incredible actor. And to be so young and have that awareness, and to be that talented!

“Still waters run deep with her. I think she’s wise beyond her years, you know, she kind of feels like an old soul.”

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Bella Ramsey at the UK premiere of Catherine Called Birdy. Picture: Joe Maher/Getty Images

Viewers who were already fans of The Last of Us have frequently been impressed by Ramsey’s seemingly instinctive ability to capture the essence of Ellie as a character, without having played the game herself. As Johnson puts it, Ramsey has been “so spot on”, even in “the tiniest little moments”.

But they have nailed the big moments as well, including season one’s morally challenging ending, which is almost identical to the iconic ending of the original game.

After Joel swears that he’s told her the truth about what happened with the Fireflies (he is, in fact, lying through his teeth), the camera lingers on Ellie’s face. We see her digest his answer, and it’s left unclear whether or not she believes him.

“You could see everything that was going on in (her head), everything she was thinking. I just think she’s so, so good. She’s Ellie come to life for me,” says Johnson.

“I don’t even fully know how to describe that. It’s just, when I met her, I felt like the character just became a person, a realised person.

“There have been so many different versions of this potentially being turned into a film over the past decade, and different people were attached. And I think it just couldn’t be made yet, because Bella wasn’t old enough yet. I don’t think anybody else could have done this.

“This was her time, this was made for her. I am so stoked and excited to see where she takes this, and see her put her own imprint on it. I’m really excited to see where she takes it.”

Ashley Johnson's version of Ellie in The Last of Us Part I. Picture: PlayStation/Naughty Dog

Bella Ramsey in the finale of The Last of Us. Picture: HBO/Foxtel/Binge

Like her co-star Troy Baker, who portrayed Joel in the games (and is similarly full of praise for Pedro Pascal’s performance in that role), Johnson feels the TV adaptation has managed to “elevate” parts of The Last of Us’s story.

That’s especially true for the final sequence, after Joel and Ellie reach the goal they’ve been pursuing all season and find the Fireflies at a hospital in Salt Lake City.

The Fireflies believe they can use Ellie to create a cure for the cordyceps fungus, but the process will kill her. Joel, still tortured by his failure to save his daughter in the first episode, cannot accept that sacrifice and cuts a bloody path through the hospital to rescue her.

Among those he murders are the surgeon who was preparing to operate on Ellie and the Fireflies’ leader, Marlene.

The game presents Joel’s killing spree as an extended combat sequence – the player is in control of him and has to fight their way to the operating room.

“I think, because that part of the story (in the game) was so much gameplay, just sitting back and watching it was devastating,” Johnson says.

“It’s hard to watch. And it’s harder to take in the decision that Joel makes, because you’re like, ‘Ah, I don’t know if I would. I don’t know if I could give somebody away that I love so much for this cause, but I don’t know if I would be able to go on a rampage like that.’”

The morality of Joel’s choice, and of his decision to lie to Ellie, will naturally be explored in the coming seasons.

The Last of Us is available to stream on Binge