Ellie actor Ashley Johnson says Last of Us 2 ending was “right choice”

Popular voice actress Ashley Johnson, who portrays Ellie in the ‘The Last of Us Part II’, has revealed why she thinks the ending for Naughty Dog’s latest release was the “right choice” for her character.

Ellie has been a fan-favorite character for her role as a protagonist in Naughty Dog’s hit video game series, The Last of Us, and is particularly loved for her interactions and bond with Joel, who is played by Troy Baker.

Following the highly-anticipated release of the series’ second installment, on June 19, fans voiced mixed opinions on Part 2’s ending sequence and on how some of the choices had affected Ellie.

(Note: This article contains spoilers for the game.)

However, Ellie’s voice actress Ashley Johnson has now shared her own take on her character’s decisions in the closing chapter of The Last of Us Part 2.

• Read More: Neil Druckmann explains why The Last of Us 2 fan backlash is “laughable”

While reflecting on the game’s end with her fellow castmates for the Official TLOU podcast, on July 28, Johnson explained why she was convinced that Ellie made the “right choice” overall.

“She knows she made the right choice at least,” Ashley admitted, reflecting on Ellie’s mental state after the final battle, “Choosing to stop the hate and the decision to keep hurting people.”

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“Does she have a purpose or know what that is yet? No,” she continued, “I don’t think she knows what that is yet and I think that is forever going to be her journey to try and find that now.”

• Read More: Neil Druckmann hits back at death threats sent to Last of Us 2 actor

Ashley followed up on the character’s final decision, adding that Ellie’s vendetta against Abby and the rest of the WLF wasn’t going to heal any of her pain, “She at least realized that killing Abby wasn’t necessarily going to heal the hurt that she has from losing Joel and now she has to figure out how to heal from there.”

She later shared that, although justice was not served, the “whole point of the video game” was to highlight that the cycle of violence “doesn’t end,” with many TLOU characters rationalizing their harsh actions through the story.

While it unclear what happens to Ellie following TLOU2, it seems unlikely that Naughty Dog will release the third game in the series after Neil Druckmann admitted it would be “hard to justify.”