The Last of Us story DLC will show a “more playful” Ellie

‘Left Behind,’ the upcoming single-player expansion for The Last of Us, will show a “more playful side” of Ellie, according to her actress Ashley Johnson.

“You kind of get to meet the real her,” Johnson said in a PlayStation Blog interview. “She’s in the quarantine zone prior to the events of The Last of Us — it’s her and her best friend Riley — what they do and how they live their lives in this world.”

She continued, “You’ll definitely see a more playful side to Ellie and get to know her a bit better. You’re going to see a lot of different sides to the character that you definitely didn’t see in The Last of Us. I’m excited for people to experience it!”

Johnson describe’s Left Behind’s campaign as “a little bit more ‘fun'” than the main game, “because you have two teenage girls going through a mall.”

“It’s kind of like a post-pandemic version of two teenage girls hanging out,” she said. “There’s a bit of everything in there. You’re really getting a new sense of the environment. You’ll engage in combat that seems familiar from the original campaign, but there are some new touches and nuances, too.”

Riley—Ellie’s best friend—is a newcomer to The Last of Us, played by Yaani King.

“[Ellie’s] relationship with Riley is vastly different to the one with Joel,” Johnson said. “Firstly, they’re best friends and secondly, they’re both teenage girls.

“There’s a playfulness and silliness that wasn’t necessarily there with Joel! It’s a different kind of relationship — I love it. Some of the stuff that we captured for Left Behind is my favourite stuff that we’ve done on the whole project.”

Johnson promises “there’s a lot you’ll find out about Ellie” in the upcoming downloadable content. There’s no release date for it yet, but according to Sony we’ll be hearing “much more” about what to expect from Left Behind “later this week.”