It’s no secret that one of Sony’s most beloved IPs, The Last of Us, is getting an HBO adaptation. Fans have known about it for a while now, with Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian) taking on the role of Joel and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) taking on the role of Ellie. Beyond that, not much has been officially revealed, but a new rumor has reared its head.

Namely, the HBO adaptation will feature scenes not in the game—which comes as no surprise, as this is not likely a 1:1 telling—but the interesting part of this rumor is that it claims Ellie’s mom will feature to some extent. This will likely take place in the form of flashbacks, and this no doubt caught many eyes. After all, Ellie’s mom is dead in the games, but that doesn’t mean her character hasn't been fleshed out. She is referenced or detail in The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind, and The Last of Us: American Dreams. She’s not referenced so much in The Last of Us 2, but that’s because of Ellie’s tunnel vision of revenge.

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The Last of Us Games: Elli’s Mom – Anna

Best Friends Riley and Ellie in The LAst of us

Players would be forgiven if they don’t know much about Anna, Ellie’s Mom, because of her small role in Ellie’s background. Anna was a nurse and a good friend of Marlene, leader of the Fireflies. Anna would give birth to Ellie after the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak, dying a few hours after the birth. She had written Ellie a letter during this time, and Ellie carries it with her (as well as her mother’s switchblade) in The Last of Us. These are the only solid connection between Anna and her daughter.

Anna was said to be stubborn and was known to give people a hard time, a trait that Ellie too adopts as she grows older. The beginning of The Last of Us 2 is enough to prove that. Anna, even though a nurse, was not fond of children or babies, but she genuinely loved Ellie—believing that she would grow up strong in this post-apocalyptic world and make her proud.

Most of this is revealed through small hints in dialogue. In the Left Behind DLC, Riley tells Ellie about her mom’s occupation, how Anna was friends with Marlene, and so on. Ellie will mention the letter while hunting for deer in The Last of Us, and Marlene will painfully “talk” to her friend as she knows the vaccine surgery will kill Ellie. That’s, of course, until Joel dispatches of the Fireflies.

The Last of Us: American Dreams is a comic miniseries, which adds just a little more detail to this entire situation. After Anna’s passing, Marlene would take care of Ellie for a little while, but she would eventually put Ellie in a military boarding school. They reunite when Ellie is 13 and captured by the Fireflies, which explains how Ellie has the letter and switchblade. That’s the long and short of Anna’s role in the games, even though it’s not much.

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The Last of Us HBO Adaptation: How Anna Could Play a Role

The Last of Us HBO Premiere

This small amount of lore makes sense given Anna’s relatively short life after the Cordyceps Outbreak. It even gives the HBO adaptation plenty of room to explore Anna’s character, without necessarily breaking canon. While the Last of Us is not likely to be a 1:1 retelling of Joel and Ellie’s story, there are certain aspects and relationships that shouldn’t be changed. Re-emphasizing Anna and Ellie's small relationship through more flashbacks would be a great move, though, and that seems to be the plan.

Showcasing more of Anna through flashbacks could bring all the above background to life, but it can also delve more into Anna’s background and character. Presumably, this would show Anna and Ellie around the latter’s birth and explore more of Marlene and Anna’s relationship, but if the HBO show made some changes here, it wouldn’t necessarily harm anything. Turning Anna surviving hours after Ellie’s birth to days or even a year or two would only make the details of Ellie’s birth and upraising more tragic. It wouldn’t harm the story if it went this far, as it’s an area that is largely open.

Either way, it all remains to be seen what happens, but showcasing Ellie’s mom in The Last of Us adaptation could add a lot to her character, to Marlene, and perhaps accentuate the hardships that Ellie and Joel encounter in relation to the first game.

The Last of Us 2 is available on PS4.

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