In April, HBO will premiere the second season of The Last of Us, based on Naughty Dog's video game series. We'll catch up with characters like Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), last seen settling in the peaceful enclave of Jackson, Wyoming following a cross-country trek across a zombie-infested United States.
We'll also meet a bunch of new characters introduced in The Last of Us Part II. The most important of these is Abby, to be played by Kaitlyn Dever. We won't spoil the plot, but Abby does something so shocking and upsetting that it led to a huge backlash when the game came out in 2020. It got proper ugly, to the point where gamers were sending death threats not only to actress Laura Baily, who voiced Abby in the games, but to Baily's infant son, so clueless were they about the distinction between actor and characters, or how not to be dangerous assholes.
The embarrassing reactions to The Last of Us Part II died down after a while, leaving behind a game that has stood the test of time. But some fear history could repeat itself with the show. Incoming cast member Isabel Merced (Dina) said last year that Kaitlyn Dever had extra security on set, a claim Dever herself is now disputing. "I have to say, actually, that’s not true, and I didn’t ever personally say that," the actress told Variety. "I know that was said a while ago, and it is not true."
So maybe a couple wires got crossed. Obviously, I'm hoping we don't see a repeat of The Last of Us backlash from 2020 when new episodes of the show start to air. After all, the twist has been public knowledge for years, and hopefully the worst among us have already gotten all that hissy wailing out of their systems.
Kaitlyn Dever wants to do "justice" to Abby in The Last of Us
Speaking more generally about the show, Dever reckoned with what it means to become part of a show that already has a very large, very passionate fanbase. "[I]t is something that I haven’t ever done before, and I’m learning every day just how to move forward in this new world that is The Last of Us fandom," she said.
"I think it is always hard stepping into that, especially because it’s already had its [first] season and I’m the newbie to the world. But I think that I’m almost treating it and approaching it like I do with everything, which is just wanting to come at it with authenticity and honesty and trying to be as organic as I can when approaching the role and bringing my own sort of energy to it, if that makes sense. I want to do the character justice, and I hope that people enjoy what I do with that."
Although HBO hasn't made it official, it's looking like the new season will probably premiere on Sunday, April 13. And while Dever may be the newbie now, if the show gets to live out its full life cycle, she'll be around for a good long while:
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