EDITORS NOTE: This article contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of The Last of Us.
The Last of Us finale is out, and Joel and Ellie’s journey has finally come to an end, for now. After a very strong penultimate episode, the finale brought us back to the necessity of making difficult choices in the post-apocalyptic world. The opening scene of the episode featured Ashley Johnson as Anna, Ellie's mother. The episode answered how Ellie is immune while shining a light on Anna and Marlene’s relationship. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, games’ creator, and co-creator of the show, Neil Druckmann spoke about how Anna’s story came to be.
Long before the show was conceived Druckmann wanted to tell another story set in The Last of Us world—Anna’s story. When Riley and Ellie’s story took shape in form of the American Dreams comic and the Left Behind DLC, the creator wanted to give a similar treatment to Anna and at first, the plan was to create an animated short. Druckmann divulges, "I wrote this short script about Ellie's mom and how she gave birth to Ellie, was bitten at the same time, and wasn't sure if she was infected during that birth." Adding, "It just became a little character drama that felt like it spoke to the same themes of parental love for their child and how much you're willing to do even when you're on death's door."
Anna's Story Went Through Several Iterations
However, that deal broke apart, and Druckmann planned to turn the concept into an entirely new The Last of Us game, but that didn’t happen either. "Then I became interested in live-action," he recalls. "So I'm like, 'Oh! We actually do it as a short.' I was talking to Ashley Johnson about her starring in it, and then we both got busy, so that fell apart." Johnson adds about that conversation. "There were so many different versions of this over the past decade of what he's wanted to do with Anna. That was way back in the day," she says. "But, you know, as life goes on, some things happen, some things don't."
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Nonetheless, in a new behind-the-scenes featurette, Craig Mazin revealed that when Druckmann told him about the idea he was instantly up for showing it in the series. And that’s when the duo decided to start the final episode with Ellie's birth. The sequence not only shows us Ellie’s origins but also gives us a hint of where she gets her fighting spirit from. It also showcases how difficult it is for Marlene to sacrifice Ellie, but she’s willing to put everything at stake for the greater good.
The Last of Us Season 1 is available on HBO Max to stream. Check out our chat with Pedro Pascal on when Season 2 begins filming down below.
