Kaitlyn Dever plays Abby in the upcoming second season of The Last of Us. Abby is crucial to one of the most controversial moment's in video game history. We're gonna talk about it, so take heed of this MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!
Okay, here it comes: in the opening act of Naughty Dog's video game The Last of Us Part II, the protagonist from the first game, Joel Miller, is brutally beaten to death by Abby in an act of vengeance after he killed her father in the original Last of Us game.
Abby is set to be one of the central characters in HBO's The Last of Us season 2. The sophomore season will cover most of the events of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II, so there's absolutely no avoiding that scene. Once again, however, some viewers find themselves having trouble differentiating between fiction and reality. Star Kaitlyn Dever has had to put up with some vile hatred towards her.
“Well, it's hard not to see those things on the internet,” Dever told ScreenRant. "It's hard not to stop myself from looking at it every once in a while, especially going into this, for sure. And I want to do this character justice and make the fans proud by bringing her to life in this kind of way."
"My main focus was just the collaboration between [showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin], and making sure I was really getting to the core of who she is and what drives her and her emotional state; her anger and her frustration and her grief and all of that. I wanted to make sure that that was what I was focusing most of my energy on."
Showrunner says Kaitlyn Dever was always "within The Last of Us DNA"
While we as fans may have to wait to see Dever's performance as Abby, showrunner Craig Mazin is very acquainted with the character's live-action counterpart. Needless to say, he's been absolutely floored by what he's seen from Kaitlyn Dever. "She’s an amazing actress, and you got to want to do this, and she wanted it.” Mazin said on a panel at SXSW, per GamesRadar.
Turns out Dever was once considered for the role of Ellie, back when a Last of Us movie was being discussed. “Kaitlyn was within The Last of Us DNA because when she was younger and [co-showrunner Neil Druckmann] and I were contemplating making The Last of Us as a movie were considered casting her for Ellie. And when the show rolled around she was no longer convincingly 14, I think it’s fair to say," he revealed.
The Last of Us season 2 will undoubtedly be one of the biggest television events of the year. The new season premieres April 13 on HBO and Max.
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