In June of 2020, Naughty Dog released The Last of Us Part II, the follow-up to their tremendously popular zombie survival game The Last of Us. This was pretty soon after the COVID lockdowns began, and I guess everyone was very cranky, because there was an enormous online backlash to the game after it released, with many fans upset over some of the twists and turns in the story.
I'm not going to spoil what those twists and turns are right now, but they involve a new character named Abby Anderson, to be played by Kaitlyn Dever in the upcoming second season of The Last of Us HBO adaptation. To put it mildly, some fans loathed Abby at the time the game came out, and apparently HBO is afraid enough of a repeat that it hired extra security for Dever on the set of the show.
That's according to actor Isabela Merced, who will play Ellie's (Bella Ramsey) girlfriend Dina in The Last of Us season 2. “There’s so many strange people in this world because there are people that actually genuinely hate Abby, who is not a real person,” Merced told Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “Kaitlyn had to be extra secured by security when it came to the filming of this.”
Although there was a lot of blowback when The Last of Us Part II first came out, the game sold very well, and after the furor died down it was easier to see how bold and exciting some of the plot twists that so infuriated people were; I'm certainly excited to see them play out on the HBO show.
As for lingering fan anger, it sounds like Dever isn't letting it get to her. “Kaitlyn is such a cool person who does not get phased by things. She really had her head in the right place, and also is going through a lot personally right now,” Merced shared, alluding to Dever recently losing her mother. “It’s devastating to see, but also give her the damn Emmy, honestly. I’m so excited for people to see how incredibly well Bella and Kaitlyn did on this."
The Last of Us season 2 is in the "tail end" of filming
The first season of The Last of Us aired on HBO to much acclaim back in 2023. Filming on season 2 is ongoing, although Merced says they're in the "tail end" of it now.
“Every day on set is challenging,” she said. “It’s a show about fungus. It’s not glamorous by any means. It’s hard topics and conversations, and fear is one of the main emotions that we do experience throughout.”
This means season 2 is on track to premiere in 2025. There's likely at least one more season in the future after that, since The Last of Us Part II is too chunky a game to adapt as one season of television.
Original Abby actor won't appear in The Last of Us season 2
If Dever wants advice on how to handle toxic fans, she might want to hit up Laura Bailey, who played Abby in the original video game. Bailey went through it back in 2020, so she knows of what she speaks.
Some of the actors from the games got to play minor roles in the show. Original Joel actor Troy Baker played a member of a cannibalistic cult, original Ellie actor Ashley Johnson played Ellie's own mother, and Laura Bailey played a nurse in the season finale. But Bailey, at least, won't return for season 2. “I’m not going to be in Season 2, but that would be really great,” she told Inverse during San Diego Comic-Con.
On the show, of course, Joel and Ellie are played by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey respectively. There are a couple actors who reprise their roles from the games on the show. In season 1, Merle Dandridge reprised her role as Marlene. And in season 2, Jeffrey Wright will again play paramilitary leader Isaac.
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h/t IndieWire